Britons have been introduced to New Zealand's 'First Bloke', Clarke Gayford, who talked to UK media while in London recently about his upcoming role as a stay-at-home dad and not wanting to put a foot wrong on the world stage.
A piece in The Telegraph is headed 'Meet New Zealand's 'First Bloke': the man who'll become a stay-at-home dad when his PM partner gives birth'.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's partner told the newspaper the fact that he's wearing a suit in a photo of spouses of Commonwealth leaders was "amazing enough".
"Before Jacinda got the upgrade, I didn't own one, I had to rush out and buy one. Now I have four on rotation," Gayford said.
The Telegraph explained how he and Ms Ardern made world headlines in January when, just a couple of months after she'd been sworn in as Prime Minister, she announced she was pregnant.
The baby is due in June when Ardern, 37, the second Prime Minister in history to give birth in office after Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto, will take six weeks off work, readers were told.
The Prime Minister is being accompanied by her partner Clarke Gayford. (Source: Other)
"When she returns to running the country, baby duties will be assigned to Gayford, 40, a former radio host who now presents TV fishing programme Fish of the Day," journalist Julia Llewellyn Smith wrote.
Gayford told of having just moved house "which is rapidly filling up with stuff, I can't believe something so small requires so much equipment".
"Of course I'm not prepared mentally, I don't think anyone is, though what's great is a lot of my female friends have babies and they're pretty excited about us hanging out together for coffee club in active-wear," he said.
While his partner and fellow Commonwealth leaders discussed global warming, trade and Prince Charles's appointment as Commonwealth head, Gayford enjoyed a "spouses programme", the piece explained.
"I kind of bonded with Philip May, he was the only other male partner," Gayford said.
He also met several members of the royal family and at dinner at Buckingham Palace sat next to Princess Anne who "was really good fun".
"Still, I was nervous, New Zealanders are so relaxed by nature and suddenly you're told the protocol and you're like 'Right, do I shake hands first? How do I address them?' You don't want to embarrass yourself," New Zealand's First Bloke said.
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