Jacinda Ardern marries partner Clarke Gayford in private ceremony

Jacinda Ardern marries partner Clarke Gayford in private ceremony – BBC.com

January 13, 2024, 10:04 GMT

Updated 2 hours ago

Image source: EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

New Zealand's former prime minister Jacinda Ardern has married her long-time partner Clarke Gayford in a small private ceremony on the North Island.

The couple had planned to tie the knot in 2022 but canceled due to the strict Covid restrictions imposed on the country by Ms Ardern's government.

Ms Ardern gave a five-minute wedding speech to dozens of guests.

The couple have been together for a decade and have a five-year-old daughter, Neve, together.

The wedding took place in Hawke's Bay at the Craggy Range Winery on the east coast of the North Island, about 310 km (190 miles) north of the capital Wellington.

Ms Ardern wore a figure-hugging ivory dress by designer Juliette Hogan – who is reportedly a close friend of the ex-prime minister – and a long veil pinned to a chignon updo.

Her shoes are from Mount Maunganui designer Chaos and Harmony, reports the New Zealand Herald. She carried a white dangling bouquet of flowers.

Daughter Neve went to the ceremony with her father and wore a dress made from fabric from her grandmother Laurell Ardern's wedding dress.

The bride's hairdresser, Tane Tomoana, shared pictures of paua and snapper buns that guests enjoyed.

Ms Ardern, 43, served as New Zealand's prime minister for more than five years and announced her resignation from public office last January because she did not have “enough left in the tank”.

She gained international recognition for her leadership, particularly after the deadly mass shootings at two mosques in Christchurch in 2019.

In her final speech in Parliament, Ardern told TV presenter Gayford, 47: “Let's finally get married.”

Since her resignation, she has accepted three scholarships to Harvard University.

She is also a trustee of Prince William's Earthshot Prize and a special envoy for the Christchurch Call – a network set up after the Christchurch shooting to “eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online”.

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Watch: Jacinda Ardern's emotional farewell to the New Zealand Parliament