Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen finally marries film director boyfriend

It was fourth time lucky for the long-established couple who were forced to postpone their wedding three times owing to political responsibilities on top of the pandemic – they finally tied the knot on the Danish island of Zealand with a former PM in attendance
MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images

It must be complicated to be a Prime Minister planning a wedding. Not only is the organisation of a wedding a complete job in itself for many, but finding a date, with so many non-negotiable meetings constantly arising, must be a challenge. At least Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, 42, can bear testament to such frustrations, given that her wedding yesterday to long-term boyfriend, the film director Bo Tengberg, 55, was on the fourth attempt, following a string of cancellations.

The couple married at an intimate village wedding in Magleby Church, Zealand, a Danish island where the couple share a holiday home. They initially delayed their 2019 nuptials because of the Danish general election, then once again earlier this year as a result of the pandemic and they finally brought forward their wedding day from this Saturday (18 July) so that Frederiksen could attend an EU Council meeting that day.

MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images

Thankfully, the nuptials went ahead yesterday, and Frederiksen took to Instagram to share a photograph of the radiant couple exiting the church with the caption ‘YES’ followed by a heart. The photograph showed Frederiksen in an elegant boat-neck white dress and simple veil beneath a tight up-do and Bo in a dapper navy suit. The local papers report that it was a small wedding of 90 people, including the former Danish Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmusen as a guest. After the 40-minute ceremony, the happy couple posed for pictures before going on to celebrate with guests.

It was earlier this month, the Daily Mail reports, that Matte confirmed via a Facebook post that they were changing their day for the third time to ‘take care of Denmark’s interests’. She said, in a post accompanied by a picture of the soon-to-be wed couple: ‘I am really looking forward to marrying this fantastic man, but obviously it can't be that easy, and now there is a council meeting in Brussels called, exactly on that Saturday in July when we had planned to marry, but I have to do my work and take care of Denmark's interests. So we have to change plans again. Soon we should be able to get married. I'm looking forward to saying yes to Bo (who fortunately is very patient).’

MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images

Frederiksen, who shares two children – Magne and Ida – with her ex-husband Erik Harr, first met Tengberg in 2014 before the couple made their first joint appearance at former Prime Minister Anker Jørgensen's funeral in the spring of 2016.

The UK’s own Prime Minister Boris Johnson is also set to marry his fiancée Carrie Symonds in the near future, although a date is still to be announced. Tatler hopes that they have less difficulty settling on theirs. Denmark, which has a population of 5.8 million people, was the first country outside Asia to ease lockdown in May – and there is no evidence so far of a second spike in infections.

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