Three’s a charm…
Boris Johnson has married his fiancee Carrie Symonds in a secret ceremony at Westminster Cathedral, it has been reported.
By all accounts, Dominic Cummings did not attend the event!
The wedding was held in front of close friends and family on Saturday, according to several newspapers.
Downing Street has declined to comment.
Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey tweeted: “Congratulations @BorisJohnson and @carriesymonds on your marriage today”.
Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster also wished them a “huge congratulations” on Twitter.
The Mail on Sunday reported that 30 guests were invited to the ceremony at short notice – the maximum number of attendees allowed under Covid restrictions in England.
A small number of church officials were involved in preparations for the Catholic ceremony, which was officiated by Father Daniel Humphreys, it said.
The Sun said senior Downing Street aides did not know about the wedding.
Members of the public were asked to leave Westminster Cathedral just after 13:30 BST, it added.
It was said Ms Symonds, 33, who wore a white dress to exchange vows with the prime minister, is reported to have arrived in a limo about half an hour later.
The newspaper also reported that, shortly after 1.30pm, staff at the cathedral told visitors to evacuate as the building was going into lockdown.
A limousine transporting Symonds, 33, arrived at the piazza outside the main west door.
The couple’s year-old son Wilfred is believed to have attended the nuptials along with two official witnesses.
The ceremony was reportedly carried out by Father Daniel Humphreys who had baptised Wilfred last year.
One witness told the newspaper: “It was closed for about half an hour and they all came out after. It’s not very often we have weddings here, and when they came out they were all bungled into a car.”
Symonds is a former press adviser to the Conservative party and masterminded broadcast coverage for the party during the 2015 general election.
The marriage to Symonds is Johnson’s third. He first married at the age of 23 to Allegra Mostyn-Owen in 1987. The wedding was annulled in 1993 following claims he was having an affair with lawyer and childhood friend Marina Wheeler, whom he married in 1993. The couple have four children. They separated in 2018 and were divorced in 2020.
The Northern Ireland first minister, Arlene Foster and work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey were among those to tweet their congratulations to the couple.
Labour former frontbencher Jon Trickett tweeted that the wedding was “a good way to bury this week’s bad news” on Dominic Cummings’ testimony, the spread of the India coronavirus variant and the row about funding of the Downing Street flat.
A Downing Street spokesperson would not comment on the reports when asked by the Guardian.
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