Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced his
engagement to his partner of four years, Jodie Haydon.
He proposed at the Lodge - the prime minister's official
Canberra residence - on Valentine's Day, with a ring he specially designed.
Mr Albanese, 60, and Ms Haydon, 45, met at a business dinner
in Melbourne in 2020.
He is the first Australian leader to get engaged while in
office.
Mr Albanese shared the news on social media with a selfie,
captioned: "She said yes."
"We are thrilled and excited to share this news and
look forward to spending the rest of our lives together. We are so lucky to
have found each other," the pair later said in a joint statement.
Colleagues from across the parliament, New Zealand leader
Christopher Luxon and TV chef Nigella Lawson are among those who have
congratulated the couple.
"Love is a beautiful thing. I'm so happy for you
both!" wrote Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
Mr Albanese has a son, 23-year-old Nathan Albanese, with
former New South Wales deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt, whom he separated from in
2019 after 19 years of marriage.
The Labor Party leader has previously detailed how he and Ms
Haydon - who has worked in the financial services industry - met and bonded a
year later, over a shared love of their National Rugby League team.
He was speaking at a function in 2020 when he asked the
audience if there were any South Sydney Rabbitohs fans in the room, to which Ms
Haydon yelled out: "Up the Rabbitohs."
The pair kept a low profile in the early days of their
relationship, before Ms Haydon joined Mr Albanese on the campaign trail in
2022, and on his international trips as prime minister since.
