Anthony Albanese marries Jodie Haydon at The Lodge, first prime minister to wed in office

Anthony Albanese and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, married in a small, family occasion on a warm but gusty afternoon at The Lodge in Canberra on Saturday, making him the first prime minister to be wed while in office.

The happy occasion rounded out a momentous political year for the prime minister in which he led the Labor Party to its second term in office with an increased majority that eviscerated the federal Coalition.

“We are absolutely delighted to share our love and commitment to spending our future lives together, in front of our family and closest friends,” Albanese and Haydon said in a statement released on Saturday afternoon.

Details of the wedding were tightly held for months, and it is understood the couple decided on the date and venue during a week-long holiday on the tiny Pacific island of Palau in October.

While the wedding took place at the prime minister’s official residence, all expenses related to this event were being paid for privately by Albanese and Haydon.

The wedding was the first for Haydon, 47. Albanese, 62, was previously married to former NSW deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt for 19 years. They have one child, Nathan, and separated in 2019, before divorcing.

Plans for the wedding were closely guarded for both privacy and security concerns. The latter was a large part of the reason Albanese and Haydon chose to hold the event at the prime minister’s Canberra residence, where security could be much more easily managed than at other venues such as the prime minister’s Sydney Harbour residence, Kirribilli, or on the NSW Central Coast, where Haydon was born.

The couple have grown fond of Canberra and were happy to be able to be married at their residence in the national capital. The nuptials were held the day after the parliamentary year finished on Friday.

The couple were married by a celebrant from the NSW Central Coast, where much of Haydon’s family still live, and the couple wrote their own vows.

Haydon was walked down the aisle by her parents, Bill and Pauline Haydon, while the Ben Folds song, The Luckiest, played. Her five-year-old niece, Ella, was the flower girl and the prime minister’s dog, Toto, was the ringbearer. Albanese’s son, Nathan, was among the guests on hand to celebrate the day.

The guest list included many of Albanese’s closest political allies, including senior ministers Penny Wong, Mark Butler, Katy Gallagher, Don Farrell, Tony Burke, Richard Marles, Jim Chalmers, Tim Ayres and Jenny McAllister and their partners, as well as NSW state MPs John Graham and Jo Haylen, who once worked for Albanese.

ALP national secretary Paul Erickson and his partner, Dimity Paul, and the prime minister’s chief of staff, Tim Gartrell, were also on hand, but the event was a relatively small affair with a limited guest list.

No other world leaders, past or present, attended, but well-wishes were delivered on social media. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on X to congratulate Haydon and his “good friend” Albanese. “Wishing them a happy married life,” the post read.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and his wife, Diana, posted their best wishes. The pair dined with Albanese and Haydon in London in September when UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer had them to dinner at 10 Downing Street.

“Congratulations, @alboMP. Diana and I send all best wishes,” Carney posted on X.

Also spotted among the ministers, high-powered bureaucrats and close family members were friends from Albanese’s childhood growing up in an inner-city Sydney social housing estate, including Sherie Dewstow and Rod Burns.

The pair were among a number of Albanese’s childhood friends who paid him a surprise visit in Canberra in 2022, at the start of his first term in parliament as prime minister, and who returned to Canberra to visit Albanese on the first day of his second term as prime minister earlier this year.

No members of the Coalition were spotted among the guests, but Opposition Leader Sussan Ley was quick to send her best wishes.

“Congratulations to Anthony and Jodie!” she said in a statement issued shortly after the news broke. “I wish them every happiness as they continue building their lives together.”

After making their vows, witnessed by Haydon’s brother, Patrick, and the PM’s cousin, Helen Golden, the newly married couple walked back down the aisle to Stevie Wonder’s hit, Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours).

Their first dance was to The Way You Look Tonight by Frank Sinatra.

Haydon wore a flowing white dress with long sleeves by Sydney designer Romance was Born, while the prime minister wore a suit from Australian menswear store MJ Bale. The wedding rings were supplied by Cerrone Jewellers in Leichhardt, Sydney, where Albanese had an engagement ring designed for Haydon.

Albanese and Haydon will take a five-day honeymoon in Australia from Monday until Friday next week at an undisclosed location.

The wedding capped a historic year for Albanese after the prime minister in May secured a crushing election victory where Labor won a record 94 seats in the lower house.

Albanese paid tribute to his fiancee on election night, saying she “probably wasn’t expecting this to be in your life half-a-dozen years ago”.

“I am so grateful for your support, your friendship and your love. You make me so happy, which matters, you have my heart, I love you and I look forward to living our lives together,” he said.

Albanese proposed to Haydon on Valentine’s Day, February 2024, on a balcony at The Lodge, after an intimate dinner at Italian and Sons, about five years after the couple first met in late 2019. The Sydney-born, Central Coast-raised partner of Australia’s 31st prime minister has rarely given interviews or spoken publicly about the relationship.

The couple met at a business event in Melbourne in late 2019 when Albanese had been opposition leader for a year. His election victory in May 2022 catapulted Haydon, an industry superannuation manager, into the spotlight as she accompanied Albanese to a NATO summit in Spain and on several other trips, including Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, King Charles’ coronation and a state dinner hosted by former US president Joe Biden.

Their relationship made headlines in October last year when 2GB’s Ben Fordham revealed that Albanese had bought a $4.3 million clifftop house on the NSW Central Coast, near Haydon’s family, to be the couple’s post-politics home.

Albanese and Haydon are both Catholics and enjoy similar music, walking the prime minister’s dog, Toto, watching the South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL team and playing games of pool at The Lodge.

One of Albanese’s closest political allies, Penny Wong, last year married her long-term partner, Sophie Allouache, after close to two decades together. Details about that ministerial wedding were tightly held, much like Albanese and Haydon’s wedding. It was held at the Bird in the Hand winery in the Adelaide Hills.

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