Boris Johnson married girlfriend Carrie Symonds in a secret ceremony this morning, the Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Mr Johnson, 56, exchanged vows with Ms Symonds, 33, in Catholic Westminster Cathedral in front of a handful of close friends and family – becoming the first Prime Minister to marry in office since Lord Liverpool married Mary Chester in 1822.
It comes just six days after the couple – who became engaged in December 2019 and have baby Wilfred, aged one – sent out save-the-date cards to guests telling them to keep Saturday, July 30, 2022 free for a marriage celebration.
One guest at today’s wedding told the MoS: ‘You are not barking up the wrong tree. The couple will be making an announcement shortly’.
Boris Johnson married girlfriend Carrie Symonds in a secret ceremony this morning, the Mail on Sunday can reveal
Mr Johnson, 56, exchanged vows with Ms Symonds, 33, in Catholic Westminster Cathedral in front of a handful of close friends and family – becoming the first Prime Minister to marry in office since Lord Liverpool married Mary Chester in 1822. Pictured: The PM’s father Stanley Johnson outside No.10 today
It comes just six days after the couple – who became engaged in December 2019 and have baby Wilfred, aged one – sent out save-the-date cards to guests telling them to keep Saturday, July 30, 2022 free for a marriage celebration. Pictured: The PM’s father Stanley Johnson outside No.10 today
Mr Johnson and Ms Symonds were the first unmarried couple to live in Downing Street, having moved in during July 2019.
The PM proposed while on holiday in Mustique shortly his party won an impressive majority in the December 2019 General Election, reports say.
Ms Symonds was scarcely seen at Mr Johnson’s side on the general election campaign trail, but waved with her soon-to-be husband on the steps outside the famous black door following the Conservatives’ thumping victory.
The couple chose to live at the larger four-bedroom flat at No11 Downing Street instead of the smaller two-bedroom official residence at No 10.
It has been suggested in the past that Ms Symonds could not become a fully-fledged ‘first lady’ until the couple were married.
Mr Johnson was coy when asked about the subject in 2019, telling reporters that marriage speculation was ‘a tiny bit premature’.
Ms Wheeler and Mr Johnson, who have four children, separated in 2018 after marrying in 1993.
He was a childhood friend of Ms Wheeler – the daughter of BBC journalist Charles Wheeler – when both were pupils at the European School in Brussels.
They have two daughters, Lara Lettice, 26, and Cassia Peaches, 22, and two sons Milo Arthur, 24, and Theodore Apollo, 20.
He also has a fifth child, Stephanie Macintyre, with art consultant Helen Macintyre.
The future PM met his first wife, Allegra Mostyn-Owen, while they were students at Oxford. They married in 1987, but the marriage was annulled in 1993.
In 2013 it emerged during another court hearing that Mr Johnson had fathered a daughter during an adulterous liaison while Mayor of London in 2009.
In 2004, he was sacked from the Tory frontbench over a reported affair with journalist Petronella Wyatt.
Ms Symonds, a former Conservative Party communications chief, found herself making headlines when she was romantically linked to Mr Johnson last year just months after the announcement of his separation from second wife Ms Wheeler.
The public relations expert had been in the so-called Westminster Bubble for most of her remarkably ascendant career, a high-point being when she was made head of party PR aged just 29.
Ms Symonds joined the Tory party media machine in 2009, first as a press adviser, then head of broadcast at Conservative campaign headquarters ahead of the 2015 general election.
Her association with Mr Johnson dates back to the early years, having worked on his successful re-election bid at City Hall in 2012.
But a row that saw police called to their home in the early stages of the Conservative leadership race offered a glimpse into the complicated private life about which Mr Johnson tries desperately to avoid answering questions.
The couple had been living together at Ms Symonds’s flat in Camberwell, south London, until the well-publicised row recorded by neighbours in June 2019.
They now live in a flat above Number 11 Downing Street and have adopted a Jack Russell-cross puppy called Dilyn.
In December, Mr Johnson’s sister Rachel Johnson said she has yet to meet Ms Symonds.
But their father Stanley, who appeared alongside Ms Johnson on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, said he has met Ms Symonds, adding: ‘The Johnsons are united in this.’
Back in January last year, Ms Symonds was joined by Stanley Johnson at an event in London opposing Japan’s plans to resume commercial whaling.
The pair were spotted smiling and chatting together after they both addressed the crowd.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson’s turbulent marriage to Ms Wheeler, during which they had four children, ended after 25 years together in September 2018.
In 2004 he was sacked from the Tory front-bench over a reported affair with journalist Petronella Wyatt and the Appeal Court ruled in 2013 that the public had a right to know he had fathered a daughter during an adulterous liaison while mayor of London in 2009.
Claims that Mr Johnson squeezed the thigh of journalist Charlotte Edwardes, at a private lunch at The Spectator magazine’s HQ shortly after he became editor in 1999, overshadowed his first Conservative Party conference as PM.
But in a public display of affection, Mr Johnson kissed Ms Symonds after his speech to party members at the event.
Mr Johnson greeted Cabinet ministers before embracing his girlfriend, kissing her on the cheek and then walking out of the hall holding her hand.
Meanwhile, allegations about Mr Johnson’s relationship with American entrepreneur Jennifer Arcuri, and whether she enjoyed preferential treatment while he was London mayor, also dominated the headlines in September.