FILE PHOTO: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, his partner Jodie Haydon and chairman and Board President of Tennis Australia, Jayne Hrdlicka in the stands before the Australian Open final at- Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - January 28, 2024 REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took time off from running the country on Wednesday to celebrate Valentines Day by proposing to his partner, Jodie Haydon.
Albanese announced the engagement on Thursday with a selfie photo of the beaming couple with the caption "She said yes" on social media.
In the photo, Haydon wears an engagement ring that her fiancée helped designed.
"It is such a joy to be able to found a partner who I want to spend the rest of my life with," Albanese said in a Thursday interview on Sky.
After a Valentine's Day date at an Italian restaurant, Albanese popped the question on a balcony at the Prime Minister's official residence in Canberra.
Haydon, who worked for many years in the pension fund industry, said she was overwhelmed by the congratulations the couple had received.
"I just want to thank everybody for such warm congratulations today, from our friends to our family, from people that we don't know," she said in the Sky interview.
The couple first met at an event in Melbourne in early 2020 and their engagement is the first for a prime minister while in office, local media reported.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton, normally a fiery critic, congratulated the couple in parliament and said he looked forward to "our version" of the royal wedding.
"I'll be there throwing roses out there in front of you Prime Minister, whatever it takes to get an invite to the gala wedding," he said.
Cabinet ministers took to social media to congratulate the couple. Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who has known Albanese for decades, said "love is a beautiful thing" in a social media post.
(Reporting by Renju Jose and Lewis JacksonEditing by Sandra Maler and Gerry Doyle)
