Carrie Symonds reveals she is pregnant with her second child with Boris

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Carrie Johnson has today announced she is pregnant with her and Boris’s second child as she revealed she suffered a miscarriage earlier this year.

The Prime Minister’s wife, 33, revealed on Instagram today that she is expecting a December birth.

She also revealed she suffered a miscarriage at the start of this year that left her ‘heartbroken’.

The environmental campaigner, who was appointed head of communications for animal conservation group the Aspinall Foundation earlier this year, described the child she was expecting as a ‘rainbow baby’ – a term for a child born to a family that has previously lost another due to stillbirth or death during infancy.

In a message to followers, she wrote: ‘Hoping for our rainbow baby this Christmas. At the beginning of the year, I had a miscarriage which left me heartbroken. 

‘I feel incredibly blessed to be pregnant again but I’ve also felt like a bag of nerves. Fertility issues can be really hard for many people, particularly when on platforms like Instagram it can look like everything is only ever going well. 

‘I found it a real comfort to hear from people who had also experienced loss so I hope that in some very small way sharing this might help others too.’

Downing Street said Mr Johnson had been due to work this weekend from his official country residence Chequers in Buckinghamshire, although it is not known if the couple are there together. 

The December arrival will mean the Prime Minister then has at least seven children, though he has not officially confirmed the exact number after leading a tangled love life that has seen him married twice. 

The announcement comes just two months after claims Mr and Mrs Johnson asked Tory donors to pay for a nanny to care for their son Wilfred.  

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer sent congratulations to the expectant couple following Carrie Johnson’s announcement.

‘Congratulations to Carrie and Boris on the happy news that they’re expecting another child,’ said the Opposition leader.

‘I’m very sorry to hear of Carrie’s earlier miscarriage. I’m sure that her speaking out will be of comfort to others and make them feel less alone.

‘Every best wish to Carrie and Boris at this time.’

The couple were last seen in public together watching England’s Euro 2020 final clash with Italy at Wembley Stadium on July 11. 

She and Mr Johnson, 57, welcomed their first baby, Wilfred, at the end of April last year. 

Following the birth, she praised the staff who delivered her son, thanking UCLH on International Day of the Midwife, captioning: ‘A big thank you from me too! You guys are incredible.’ 

The couple named their son Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson, after their grandfathers and the hospital doctors who treated the Prime Minister for coronavirus. 

Mr Johnson married his partner in a secret ceremony at Westminster Cathedral back in May this year, in front of a handful  of close friends and family.

One-year-old Wilfred attended the wedding, as did two official witnesses. Mrs Johnson shared a picture of their son yesterday in a field of bluebells – which some speculated was a nod to the tradition of ‘something blue’.

The PM’s siblings Rachel, Jo and Leo Johnson are also understood to have attended, along with his father Stanley.

It meant he became the first Prime Minister to marry in office since Lord Liverpool married Mary Chester in 1822.

The couple’s association dates back several years after Carrie worked on Boris’ successful bid to be re-elected Mayor of London in 2012. 

But they did not start dating until 2018 after he announced he had separated from his second wife, Marina Wheeler, the mother of four of his children. 

Mrs Johnson gave birth to her son in London last year with her now husband at her side, days after he himself had been released from medical care following a lengthy battle with coronavirus. 

In a heart-warming Instagram post revealing the boy’s name, Mrs Johnson said that the middle name Nicholas was a tribute to two NHS doctors, Dr Nick Price and Dr Nick Hart, who ‘saved Boris’ life last month’ following his personal fight against Covid.

The couple then also held a top-secret baptism for their son – only witnessed by a few family and friends in September, just days before new lockdown restrictions on social gatherings came into force.

There was no reception after the religious ceremony as Mr and Mrs Johnson were reportedly keen to set a good example for the public and abide by social distancing rules.    

The December arrival will mean the Prime Minister then has at least seven children, though he has not officially confirmed the exact number after leading a tangled love life that has seen him married twice.

Both marriages ended after he had affairs. It seems extraordinary that the number of children a Prime Minister has is not public record, yet that is the situation.

Mr Johnson and Marina Wheeler, who split in 2018, have four children together: Lara Lettice, 26, Milo Arthur, 24, Cassia Peaches, 22, and Theodore Apollo, 20.

He also has a fifth child, Stephanie Macintyre, with art consultant Helen Macintyre. Stephanie is allegedly one of two children he fathered as a result of an affair.

Mr Johnson met his first wife Allegra Mostyn-Owen while they were students at Oxford and they wed in 1987 but they were divorced in 1993.

In 2004 it emerged that Johnson was reportedly having an affair with journalist Petronella Wyatt who had fallen pregnant and had an abortion.

He was sacked from the Tory frontbench over the affair. In 2006 the News of the World reported Mr Johnson had had an affair with journalist Anna Fazackerley.

In September 2018, news about his relationship with former Tory communications chief Carrie Symonds came to light – and they later moved in together. 

In May, it was revealed that Tory donors were allegedly asked to stump up cash to pay for a nanny for Wilfred in Downing Street.

One donor who said they were approached said: ‘I don’t mind paying for leaflets but I resent being asked to pay to literally wipe the Prime Minister’s baby’s bottom.’ 

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters that Mr Johnson had covered all the costs for childcare for his one-year-old son himself. 

But the spokesman refused to be drawn on whether the PM had previously approached supporters to pay for a nanny.

It came amid allegations the couple had asked for donors to pay for the redecoration of their Downing Street home, although an investigation found there was no conflict of interest.

There have been increasing rumours about the Prime Minister’s financial situation after a cripplingly expensive divorce from his second wife, the cost of supporting at least four of his six children and a substantial drop in income.

Boris’s divorce from long-suffering QC wife Marina Wheeler was finalised in February last year only after agreement had been reached on the money.

The settlement with his former wife is estimated to have amounted to around £2 million. As a close friend of Boris told the Daily Mail: ‘He was cleaned out.’  

The biggest impact on his finances, however, has resulted from a dramatic reduction in income.

In a two-year period during the last Parliament, when he was largely on the backbenches, he earned £800,000 from newspaper columns, after-dinner speeches, book royalties and TV programmes.

Regular income, such as the £275,000 he received for his Daily Telegraph column, have ended, and since moving into No 10 in December last year his outside earnings have shrivelled to £10,500 — all royalties from previously published books.

His £150,000 salary as PM makes him a political pauper by international standards.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor is paid £320,000, the New Zealand premier Jacinda Ardern receives £240,000, and even the prime minister of tiny land-locked Liechtenstein gets £195,000.

As a friend says: ‘For years he was earning so much he had no money worries. Certainly during the years of his marriage to Marina who earned good money as a barrister, he was very comfortably off.

‘Now for the first time, when he wants to provide for his family, he is not at all sure he can. This is an unusual position for him.

‘Friends say, ‘Don’t worry, when you leave Downing Street you will make pots of money like Blair, Cameron and John Major’ but his concern is the now not the future. It does play on his mind.’

The days when he could dismiss his six-figure pay for newspaper columns as ‘chicken feed’ as he did in 2009 are long gone.

After Mrs Johnson’s announcement, a miscarriage charity priased her openness and said it was ‘important’ to talk about pregnancy after losing a baby.

Ruth Bender Atik, national director of the Miscarriage Association, told Sky News: ‘Not everyone wants to talk about their experience of miscarriage, they may feel it’s private to them or they’re just not comfortable talking about it.

‘They might worry that people will say the wrong things, but also it’s important to talk about pregnancy after loss because it can be a very anxious time.

‘I think a lot of people say they lose the kind of innocence and optimism that they had the first time around because they’re always concerned that something might go wrong this time and for most people it doesn’t.

‘We have a really British way of trying to cheer people up by starting sentences with words like ‘at least’, ‘at least it was early’, ‘at least you already have a child’.

‘None of these things generally help so just allowing somebody to feel how they feel and to say ‘I’m sorry for loss’ and perhaps when they’re pregnant again, say ‘I imagine it might be a bit of an anxious time for you now”.

She went on to say that miscarriage can be ‘very traumatic’ for some partners.

Ms Atik added: ‘It’s important that we think about partners and remember their needs and ask them how they’re doing.’

Here are the details on all six of Mr Johnson’s known children:  

LARA LETTICE JOHNSON, 27 (born in 1993 to Boris Johnson and Marina Wheeler)  

Lara was the first child born to Mr Johnson and Ms Wheeler, in 1993.  

Just five weeks after her parents’ wedding day, Lara – who is only five years younger than Carrie Symonds – was born.

She attended Bedales School – which costs £33,000-a-year – in Hampshire and went on to read Latin at St Andrews University.

Lara allegedly branded her father a ‘selfish b******’ after his split with her mother.

She has previously been pictured in public with her parents, including when she casted a vote with them at a polling station in Islington, North London, during the London mayoral elections of May 2012.

MILO ARTHUR JOHNSON, 25 (born in 1995 to Boris Johnson and Marina Wheeler)

Born in 1995, Milo was Boris Johnson and Marina Wheeler’s first son. 

The 24-year-old was educated at the £27,000-a-year Westminster School and is said to be a keen sportsman. 

A 2011 issue of his school magazine described him as ‘delight to watch’ and said he was ‘without doubt the player of the season’ for his football skills.

Milo studied at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, graduating from there in 2014, and can speak Arabic, Russian and French.

He also worked as an intern in Dubai at men’s magazine Esquire Middle East. 

After Mr Johnson and Ms Wheeler separated in 2018, the politician and Milo were photographed bringing tea for the Press outside his house in Oxfordshire. 

Cassia Peaches Johnson, 23 (born in 1997 to Boris Johnson and Marina Wheeler)

Cassia, thought to have followed in her father’s footsteps to be a writer, is the youngest daughter of Mr Johnson and Ms Wheeler. 

She was born in 1997 and went to Highgate School – which costs £18,000 per year.  

During Cassia’s time at the private school she was a student editor of their alumni magazine Cholmeleian.

THEODORE APOLLO JOHNSON 21 (born in 1999 to Boris and Marina Wheeler)

Born in 1999, Theodore is Mr Johnson and his ex-wife Marina Wheeler’s youngest child.

He attended school in London before going to Cambridge University, unlike his father who attended Oxford.

He is listed on LinkedIn as ‘Theodore Johnson-Wheeler’ in a profile which states he started at Cambridge in 2017. 

Theodore has also been labelled previously as something of a doppleganger for Mr Johnson, with the same distinctive hair colour and style. 

STEPHANIE MACINTYRE, 12 (born in 2009 to Boris Johnson and Helen Macintyre)

He also has a fifth child, Stephanie Macintyre, with art consultant Helen Macintyre. 

Stephanie is allegedly one of two children he fathered as a result of an affair. 

The Appeal Court ruled in 2013 that the public had a right to know that he had fathered a daughter during an adulterous liaison while Mayor of London in 2009 – but also mentioned the possibility of a second baby.

The three appeal court judges said: ‘It was not material to the judge’s conclusion whether contraceptive precautions were taken.

‘What was material was that the father’s infidelities resulted in the conception of children on two occasions.

‘The judge was entitled to hold that this was of itself reckless behaviour, regardless of whether any contraceptive precautions were taken. ‘

 

 

WILFRED LAWRIE NICHOLAS JOHNSON, 1 (born in 2020 to Boris and Carrie Johnson)

Mr Johnson’s sixth child, Wilfred, was born on April 29, 2020, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and the first lockdown. 

It was the first child he had with Carrie, who he would go on to wed in a secret ceremony in Westminster in MAy 2021.

Following the birth, his now wife praised the staff who delivered her son, thanking UCLH on International Day of the Midwife, captioning: ‘A big thank you from me too! You guys are incredible.’ 

The couple named their son Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson, after their grandfathers and the hospital doctors who treated the Prime Minister for coronavirus. 

Carrie’s cover-up! How PM’s wife used subtle styling tricks to hide her baby bump – from bold patterns and bright colours to ‘distract the eye’ to loose maxi dresses and relaxed blazers

By Harriet Johnston for MailOnline

Carrie Symonds hid her growing baby bump with a series of clever styling tricks, a stylist has revealed.

The Prime Minister’s wife, 33, revealed on Instagram today that she is expecting a December birth after suffering a miscarriage at the start of this year that left her ‘heartbroken’.

The normally lowkey mother-of-one has been in the spotlight during the last few months, having joined her husband at the G7 summit in June and Euro 2020 matches in July. 

Celebrity stylist Rochelle White told FEMAIL she had managed to keep her pregnancy under wraps thanks to a series of subtle styling hacks, revealing: ‘I would say that Carrie has selected busy patterns and bold colours to also help disguise her growing bump. 

‘With bold patterns and colors, they are a great distraction for the eye, drawing attention away from growing bellies.’

The mother-one-one is at least three months into her first pregnancy – suggesting that she fell pregnant around mid-March. 

Rochelle said Carrie had been ‘selective’ with her outfit choices over the last few months to conceal her bump.  

While her baby bump will not have been visible, Carrie has been careful to avoid fuelling speculation by keeping her tummy firmly covered. 

She made her most high profile appearances to date when she attended the G7 summit alongside Boris in June. 

Eco-conscious Carrie hired multiple pieces for the event in Cornwall – two collections from dress hire companies My Wardrobe HQ and Hurr Collective were delivered before the summit.  

Meeting with President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr Jill Biden, Carrie donned a scarlet £325 LK Bennett gown.

The vibrant red dress was described online as inspired by the ‘glamour of the chic 1930s’. 

Meanwhile she also opted to wear a similar £990 cobalt blue two-piece from Amanda Wakeley for a trip to the theatre.  

Rochelle said Carrie had worn floaty maxi dresses during appearances to keep her figure under wraps. 

She said: ‘Carrie has been wearing loose fitting dresses, blazers and shirts. She keeps it as casual and to her style, with a few subtle changes. ‘  

She also revealed how the Prime Minister’s wife had used bold patterns and bright colours to distract the eye during the early months of her pregnancy. 

Meanwhile the celebrity stylist pointed to her recent choices to wear oversized blazers with loose fitting trousers, adding: ‘When she has selected trousers and shirt combo, they have loose fitting and tailored, so it could look like she is wearing oversized. 

‘It is all very flattering to her body shape and style.’

She said Carrie’s decision to layer blazers and loose shirts, such as her outfit choice when she attended the Euro 2020 final at Wembley on July 11, also helped distract from any hint of a bump.

Rochelle revealed: ‘Items can be layered and mixed multiple patterns can also be added for extra visual distraction.

‘Styles don’t need to be overly busy, so, I would recommend to stick to a similar color family, or use one pattern to dominate and the other to accent.

‘Wearing more form-fitting clothing and slowly adding in layers can help trick the eye.’    

Carrie has become one of the biggest profile advocates for hiring clothing, with the mother-of-one marrying the Prime Minister in a rented dress.

She has been hiring her designer outfits, rather than buying them outright, for years.

In 2019, it was reported she pays £9.99 a month membership to the website My Wardrobe HQ, which allows her to supplement her day-to-day high-street outfits.

The service has been described as a ‘private members’ club for the fashion world’.

At the time, a source close to My Wardrobe HQ said: ‘Carrie loves eco fashion so borrowing clothes for special occasions means they aren’t just left hanging in her wardrobe and rarely worn. One dress can go a long way.’