Anthony Albanese Makes History as First Australian Prime Minister to Marry While in Office
Anthony Albanese becomes first sitting Australian PM to marry.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has made history by becoming the first leader in the nation’s 124-year federation to marry while holding office, tying the knot with longtime partner Jodie Haydon in an intimate garden ceremony at The Lodge in Canberra on Saturday evening. The 62-year-old Labor leader exchanged vows with the 46-year-old financial services professional in front of family and closest friends, marking a deeply personal milestone for the country’s third-longest serving unmarried prime minister until this weekend.
In a brief statement released shortly after the ceremony, Albanese expressed overwhelming joy, declaring that he and Haydon were “absolutely delighted to share our love and commitment to spending our future lives together.” The couple, who wrote their own vows, were married by a civil celebrant beneath a flower-covered pergola as confetti showered the newlyweds. A single-word social media post from the Prime Minister – “Married” – accompanied a touching video of the couple beaming, with Haydon radiant in an elegant long white gown and Albanese dapper in a classic bow tie.
The romantic journey reached this point more than a year after Albanese proposed on Valentine’s Day 2024, having publicly declared he had found the partner he wished to spend the rest of his life with. The couple first met over five years ago at a business dinner in Melbourne, and Haydon has since become a familiar and supportive presence at Albanese’s side throughout his 2022 election victory and the subsequent term that saw Labor returned with a strengthened majority earlier this year.
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Guests watched as the newlyweds walked back down the aisle to Stevie Wonder’s uplifting “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours),” followed by a reception where the couple shared their first dance to Frank Sinatra’s timeless “The Way You Look Tonight.” Keeping the occasion entirely private, Albanese and Haydon will fund their five-day Australian honeymoon themselves, with the trip scheduled to begin on Monday and conclude the following Friday.
With this marriage, Anthony Albanese joins an exclusive global club of serving leaders who have wed while in office, while writing a new chapter in Australian political history. The union comes six years after his divorce from former wife Carmel Tebbutt in 2019, with whom he shares adult son Nathan, and symbolises a new beginning for the Prime Minister both personally and as he continues to lead the nation.
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