Boris Johnson secretly marries fiancee

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson married his fiancee Carrie Symonds in a "secret ceremony" on Saturday,  according to an announcement from Johnson's Downing Street office 

The Mail on Sunday and the Sun reported that the couple wed at the Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral in London with a small group of friends and family present.

Surprise element

The development comes as a surprise, given that the Sun announced a week ago that the couple would be getting married in the summer of 2022.

The tabloid then said on Saturday that the ceremony was "so secret even top aides didn't know about it."

Under current coronavirus restrictions in England, weddings are limited to 30 guests.

First nuptials for a sitting PM in two centuries

Symonds joined the Conservative Party as a press officer in 2009 and later campaigned for her future husband in the 2010 mayoral selection for the party. She became the party's head of communications in 2018, before relinquishing the position later the same year.

Johnson and Symonds announced their engagement at the end of February 2020 and have a son together, 1-year-old Wilfred. The pair were due to get married in 2020, but like so many others, had to postpone their plans due to the pandemic.

Johnson is only the second British prime minister to marry while in office, and the first in nearly two centuries, with Robert Jenkinson tying the knot while he was PM in 1822.

jsi/sri (AP, AFP)