Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has married his partner Jodie Hayden in Canberra, making him the first Australian leader to tie the knot while in office.
The ceremony took place at the Lodge, Albany’s official residence, on Saturday afternoon, attended by a small group of close family and friends, including Albanese’s son, Nathan, and Hayden’s parents, Bill and Pauline.
“We are extremely happy to share our love and commitment to spend our future together in front of our family and closest friends,” Albanese and Hayden said in a statement.
The couple were married by a celebrant from the NSW Central Coast and wrote their own vows. Hayden was walked down the aisle by her parents to the song “The Luckiest” by Ben Folds.
Hayden wore a dress by Sydney designer Romance is Born, while the Prime Minister’s suit was by MJ Bell. The wedding rings were from Ceron Jewelers in Leichhardt, Sydney.
Hayden’s five-year-old niece Ella was the flower girl and Albanese’s dog Toto was the ring bearer. The witnesses were Hayden’s brother Patrick and Albanese’s cousin Helen Golden.
After the ceremony, the couple walked down the aisle to Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)”. Their first dance was to “The Way You Look Tonight” by Frank Sinatra.
Details of the wedding are kept under tight security by the Labor leader’s office. The costs are being paid privately by the couple. It comes on Friday, the day of the Australian Parliament’s final meeting for 2025, and six months after Albanese’s landslide re-election victory.
Guests included the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers and his wife Laura, the Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, the Finance Minister, Katy Gallagher and ALP National Secretary Paul Erickson.
Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Tim Gartrell was also there
The couple first met at a public event in Melbourne more than five years ago.
After dinner at a popular Canberra restaurant on Valentine’s Day in February 2024, Albanese proposed to Hayden on the balcony of the lodge. She designed a special engagement ring for the occasion.
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Hayden has regularly accompanied Albanese at public events, on official trips abroad and during election campaigns.
More media-shy than some politicians’ partners, she has taken on some of the traditional roles of a prime minister’s spouse, including as chief conservator of the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.
Albanese separated from his ex-wife, former Deputy Premier of New South Wales Carmel Tebbutt, in 2019. The couple’s marriage lasted for almost two decades.
Hayden works for the NSW Public Service Association and has previously held roles in the superannuation sector. She was born in Bankstown, Sydney, to schoolteacher parents, but grew up on the Central Coast.
The pair met when Albanese was speaking at an event in Melbourne in 2019, when Hayden shouted “Up the Rabbitohs”, a reference to his beloved South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league team.
Before the pair connected on social media, she introduced herself to the then opposition leader.
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“I slid into his DMs,” she told an interviewer. “He had a public profile and I didn’t, so I knew we both followed the same footy team, we both loved the inner west and I think I said in that direct message ‘Hey, we’re both single’.”
Their initial relationship coincided with COVID-19 disruptions in Australia.
Hayden has praised Albanese for his “compassion and kindness”.
“He respects how independent I am but he’s also kind and considerate,” she said before the election.
Albanese said the couple hasn’t had time to practice their first dance for the wedding reception this month.
“It will be beautiful,” he said. “This will be a chance for us to express our love and spend the rest of our lives together in front of family and friends.”
Albanese has previously spoken about his love of staying at the lodge, which was constructed in 1927 as a temporary home for the Australian Prime Minister.
Designed by Melbourne architects Oakley and Parkes, the Colonial Revival-style residence underwent a major restoration, completed in 2019.
It has large gardens and reception rooms, and has been the home of all but a few of Albany’s previous Prime Ministers. Emperors, presidents, and celebrities have been hosted at the home.
Due to threats to his safety, there was adequate security in place for the wedding and other recent ceremonies hosted by Albanese in Canberra.
He told Parliament that members of his Australian Federal Police Security Department had a larger than usual presence at the Canberra Press Gallery’s Christmas event this week.
“The truth is that there have been many arrests in recent days, including those related to my security,” he said.
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