British PM Boris Johnson, girlfriend Carrie Symonds engaged, expecting baby this summer

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his girlfriend, Carrie Symonds, are expecting a child this summer, a spokeswoman for the couple announced on Saturday.

Johnson, 55, and Symonds, 31, -- the first unwed couple to occupy 10 Downing Street in such a fashion -- also revealed they had become engaged, very quietly, at the end of last year, The Washington Post reported.

Symonds wrote a message on her Instagram account, admitting, "I wouldn't normally post this kind of thing here but I wanted my friends to find out from me."

"Many of you already know, but for my friends that still don't, we got engaged at the end of last year . . . and we've got a baby hatching early summer. Feel incredibly blessed," she said.

 

Symonds, a conservationist, and former Conservative Party communications chief, first found herself making headlines when she was romantically linked to Johnson earlier in 2019.

But her association with Johnson dates back to when she worked on his successful re-election bid at City Hall in 2012, The Irish Times reported.

According to British media reports, the announcement means the Conservative Prime Minister, who took office in July and won a decisive election victory in December, will become the first British prime minister to marry in office for 250 years.

Johnson's union with Miss Symonds will be his third marriage.

Earlier this month, Johnson reached a divorce settlement with Marina Wheeler, a British lawyer he married in 1993. The couple, who were childhood friends, have four children. They separated in 2018.

Johnson met his first wife, Allegra Mostyn-Owen when they were both students at Oxford University. They married in 1987 when they were 23 years old. Twelve days after their divorce in 1993, Johnson married Wheeler, who was visibly pregnant with their first child.