WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern married her long-time partner Clarke Gayford in a private ceremony on Saturday, finally tying the knot after cancelling ceremonies during strict Covid-19 controls she imposed on the country.

Ardern, 43, and Gayford, 47, got engaged in May 2019 and were meant to be married in early 2022, but the ceremony was cancelled due to her go hard, go early approach to the pandemic, which allowed New Zealand to keep deaths from the virus low.

She became a global icon for left-leaning politics and women in leadership as prime minister from 2017 to January last year. Ardern, one of just two women to have a baby as national leaders, took her daughter to a United Nations meeting.

The wedding took place in Hawke’s Bay at Craggy Range Winery on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island, about 310 km north of the capital Wellington, an Ardern spokesperson said by email.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2024