WELLINGTON: After calling off weddings because to the severe COVID-19 restrictions she put on the nation, former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern eventually tied the knot on Saturday in a private ceremony with her longtime partner Clarke Gayford.
Jacinda Ardern weds: Originally scheduled to wed in early 2022, Ardern, 43, and Gayford, 47, called it quits on their engagement in May 2019. Her “go hard, go early” strategy to the epidemic allowed New Zealand to contain the virus’s death toll.
As prime minister from 2017 to January of last year, she rose to prominence as a global symbol of left-leaning politics and women in leadership. Ardern brought her daughter to a UN summit; she is one of just two women in national leadership roles to give birth.
According to an email from an Ardern representative, the wedding took place in Hawke’s Bay at the Craggy Range Winery on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island, some 310 km (190 miles) north of the country’s capital Wellington.
In official pictures, Gayford wore a black suit, while Ardern grinned and sported a white halter neck dress. About fifty to seventy-five guests watched them tie the knot, according to news website Stuff.
The current leader of the opposition, Chris Hipkins, who succeeded Ardern as prime minister, was among the guests, according to the New Zealand Herald.
Hawke’s Bay is a significant horticultural region and home to several well-known vineyards across the world.
Ardern has been working on three fellowships at Harvard University for the last six months.
In addition to serving as a special envoy for the Christchurch Call, a network dedicated to “eliminating terrorist and violent extremist content online,” she is a trustee of Prince William’s Earthshot Prize. In response to a massacre targeting Muslims, Ardern’s empathetic response, which drew praise, organized it.
“Let’s finally get married,” Ardern said to New Zealand television host Gayford during her farewell speech in parliament. Neve, the couple’s five-year-old daughter,