Current:Home > StocksAfter years of delays, former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ties the knot -Dynamic Wealth Solutions
After years of delays, former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ties the knot
View
Date:2025-04-19 03:53:30
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — After almost five years of engagement and a postponement due to the coronavirus pandemic, former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern married longtime partner Clarke Gayford in a private ceremony Saturday.
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 kilometers (200 miles) from New Zealand’s capital, Wellington.
It is believed only family, close friends and a few of the 43-year-old Ardern’s former lawmaker colleagues were invited, including 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.
Ardern and Gayford, 47, reportedly began dating in 2014 and were engaged five years later, but due to Ardern’s government’s COVID-19 restrictions that reduced gatherings to 100 people, the wedding planned for the southern hemisphere summer of 2022 was postponed.
“Such is life,” 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.”
Just 37 when she became leader in 2017, Ardern quickly became a global icon of the left. She exemplified a new style of leadership and was praised around the world for her handling of the nation’s worst-ever mass shooting and the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2018, Ardern became just the second elected world leader to give birth while holding office. Later that year, she brought her infant daughter to the floor of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
New Zealand, under Ardern’s government, 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.
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, Ardern announced she would temporarily join Harvard University after being appointed to dual fellowships at the Harvard Kennedy School. She has also took an unpaid role combating online extremism.
In June, Ardern received one of New Zealand’s highest honors 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.
veryGood! (6947)
Related
- Trump's 'stop
- The trip to Margaritaville can soon be made on the Jimmy Buffett Highway
- Illegally imported goose intestines hidden under rattlesnakes, federal authorities say
- Love Is Blind’s Jess Dated This Netflix Star After Romance With Jimmy Ended
- Taylor Swift Eras Archive site launches on singer's 35th birthday. What is it?
- Homes near St. Louis County creek are being tested after radioactive contamination found in yards
- Andre Agassi Serves Up Rare Insight Into His and Steffi Graff’s Winning Marriage
- When do new 'Halo' episodes come out? Cast, release dates, Season 2 episode schedule
- Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
- Camila Cabello Shares What Led to Her and Shawn Mendes’ Break Up Shortly After Rekindling Their Romance
Ranking
- Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
- Fed Chair Powell’s testimony to be watched for any hint on rate-cut timing
- First North Atlantic right whale baby born this season suffered slow, agonizing death after vessel strike, NOAA says
- Another inmate found dead at troubled Wisconsin prison
- Can Bill Belichick turn North Carolina into a winner? At 72, he's chasing one last high
- Fiery explosion leaves one dead and others injured in Michigan: See photos of the blaze
- Booth where Tony Soprano may have been whacked – or not – sells for a cool $82K to mystery buyer
- San Diego man first in US charged with smuggling greenhouse gases
Recommendation
Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge
Sports bar is dedicated solely to women's sports as the popularity for female sports soars
Bitcoin hits a record high. Here are 4 things to know about this spectacular rally
Fire chief in Texas city hit hard by wildfires dies while fighting a structure blaze
As Trump Enters Office, a Ripe Oil and Gas Target Appears: An Alabama National Forest
Why Dakota Johnson Says She'll Never Do Anything” Like Madame Web Again
Passage: Iris Apfel, Richard Lewis and David Culhane
Former cheesemaker pleads guilty in listeria outbreak that killed two people