Carrie and Boris: how did they meet, when did they marry, how many children do they have, what’s the age gap?

Carrie Johnson, the Prime Minister’s wife, has been cast by her rivals as trying to have too much political say and influence.

She has courted controversy with her receiving a fixed penalty notice after attending an event that breached lockdown rules and for her part in the funding of the No 11 flat refurbishment.

The flat refurb saw critics brand her as “Carrie Antoinette”.

However, she was also a high-flyer in the Tory party before she married Mr Johnson, with several reports also suggesting that she is a shrewd political operator.

She married Mr Johson in 2021, and they now have two children together.

Mr Johnson has been married twice, and has four children from his second marriage - alongside allegations over the years of him having affairs.

Here’s how the couple met, who Mrs Johnson is, what the age gap is between them, and who Boris Johnson’s previous partners are.

Who is Carrie Johnson?

Born Carrie Symonds, Mrs Johnson is the daughter of one of the founders of the Independent newspaper, Matthew Symonds, and newspaper lawyer Josephine McAffee.

She was educated at the £20,000-a-year Godolphin and Latymer School in Hammersmith, west London, where Nigella Lawson, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Kate Beckinsale were former pupils.

The 33-year-old then went on to study art history and theatre studies at Warwick University.

Aged 20, she testified in court against notorious sex offender John Worboys.

She had been a passenger in his taxi and accepted a drink that had been spiked by him.

She fell unconscious in the cab and could not remember what happened on the journey.

After graduating from Warwick University with a first in theatre studies and history of art, Mrs Johnson considered a career in acting.

She appeared in amateur productions and made it to the final casting for a supporting role in the 2007 Keira Knightley film Atonement.

Having failed to get a part, she turned to politics, joining Conservative HQ as a press officer.

She says her first job in politics was working for Zac Goldsmith, the MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston.

Mrs Johnson said she is "not sure I’d have worked for the Tories if it hadn’t been for him".

She joined the Conservative Party as a press officer in 2010, and two years later worked on Mr Johnson’s successful campaign to be re-elected mayor in London in 2012.

Later jobs saw her work for the then-Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale, before being hired as a media special adviser for Sajid Javid when he was at the Department for Communities and Local Government.

She became the party’s head of communications, but left in 2018 to work in public relations for Oceana - a project that protects sea life.

Mrs Johnson later joined conservation group the Aspinall Foundation in January 2021, becoming their head of communications.

How did they meet?

Mrs Johnson was first romantically linked to the Prime Minister by the media in early 2019.

He and his second wife, childhood friend Marina Wheeler, had announced they were divorcing in 2018 after 25 years.

They have four children together.

During Mr Johnson’s leadership campaign launch in 2019, Mrs Johnson was seen in the audience.

The same month, before Mr Johnson won the leadership, police were called to the couple’s home in south London after neighbours reportedly heard a loud argument.

When Mr Johnson first became PM in July 2019, Mrs Johnson watched from the sidelines as he entered No 10 - this was a contrast to her predecessors, who joined their husbands on the Downing Street steps.

But, after the December election, the couple walked in together.

The couple, who live in the flat above No 11 Downing Street, adopted a Jack Russell-cross puppy from an animal rescue charity in south Wales, who they named Dilyn.

When did they marry?

In February 2020, they both announced that they were engaged and expecting a baby.

Their son Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas, was named as a tribute to her and Mr Johnson’s grandfathers - as well as two doctors who treated the prime minister when he was in hospital with coronavirus.

The couple married at Westminster Cathedral on 29 May 2021.

This officially made Mr Johnson the first prime minister to wed in office in nearly 200 years.

No date was announced for their wedding and news emerged shortly after the ceremony had taken place, before being confirmed by Downing Street the next day.

In July 2021 they revealed they were expecting another baby around Christmas - and also that Mrs Johnson had had a miscarriage earlier in the year.

Romy Iris Charlotte was born in December.

There is a 24-year age gap between Boris Johnson and Carrie.

Who were Boris Johnson’s previous partners?

In 1987, Mr Johnson married girlfriend Allegra Mostyn-Owen who he had met during their time at university when they were both 23.

Allegra is the daughter of Italian writer Gaia Sevadio and art historian William Mostyn-Owen and grew up in Aberuchill Castle in Perthshire, Scotland.

Her mother claimed the pair were not compatible from the start and they divorced after six years of marriage.

High-flying barrister Marina Wheeler was Mr Johnson’s second wife and the mother of four of his children.

It was reported that she was pregnant with their eldest child Lara when the couple married on 8 May 1993 - allegedly 12 days after his first divorce.

Marina is the eldest daughter of BBC correspondent Sir Charles Wheeler and his wife Dip Singh.

She was appointed to the Queen’s Council in 2016 and specialises in human rights within public law.

Their marriage was rocked by reports of his infidelity and in 2018 they announced their separation.

Marina and Mr Johnson finalised their divorce in May 2020.

During his marriage to Marina, Mr Johnson reportedly had an affair with society writer Petronella Wyatt.

He allegedly had an affair with her while he was editor at The Spectator and she was one of his columnists.

Petronella later said she had an abortion and suffered a miscarriage.

When the affair became public knowledge, Mr Johnson was forced to quit as shadow arts minister and party vice-chairman in 2004 by the then-Conservative leader Michael Howard.