After an almost five-year engagement and a postponement due to the coronavirus pandemic, former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has married her longtime partner Clarke Gayford.
Key points:
- Only family, close friends and a few of Jacinda Ardern’s former colleagues were invited
- Police met with a small group of protesters who had plastered a wall with dozens of anti-vaccination posters outside the venue
- Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford began dating in 2014
Details of the event were closely held by the pair, but the ceremony is reported to have been staged at a luxury vineyard in the scenic Hawke’s Bay region, 325 kilometres from New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, in a private ceremony on Saturday.
It is believed only family, close friends and a few of the 43-year-old former lawmaker’s colleagues were invited, including Ms Ardern’s successor and former prime minister Chris Hipkins.
Earlier, police met with a small group of protesters who had plastered a wall with dozens of anti-vaccination posters outside the venue.
One protester was also seen holding a sign that read, “Lest we forget jab mandates,” on the outskirts of the property.
Ms Ardern and Mr Gayford, reportedly began dating in 2014 and were engaged five years later, but due to Ms Ardern’s government’s COVID-19 restrictions that reduced gatherings to 100 people, the wedding planned in the summer of 2022 was postponed.
“Such is life,” Ms Ardern said at the time of their decision to call off the wedding.
“I am no different to, dare I say, thousands of other New Zealanders.”
Under Ms Ardern’s government, New Zealand had some of the strictest coronavirus mandates in the world, which prompted several rallies during her final year as prime minister.
It also led to a level of vitriol from some that hadn’t been experienced by previous New Zealand leaders.
Ms Ardern shocked New Zealanders in January 2023 when she said she was stepping down after five-and-a-half years as prime minister because she no longer had “enough in the tank” to do the job justice in an election year.
Since then, Ms Ardern announced she would temporarily join Harvard University after being appointed to dual fellowships at the Harvard Kennedy School.
She has also taken up an unpaid role combating online extremism.
In June 2023, Ms Ardern received one of New Zealand’s highest honours for her service leading the country through a mass shooting and pandemic.
She was made a Dame Grand Companion, meaning people will now call her Dame Jacinda Ardern.
AP