Clare Balding and Alice Arnold are married!
Sports presenter Clare Balding confirms she has married her long-term parter Alice Arnold.
Speaking on the Jonathan Ross Show, Ms Balding confirmed that she and former Radio 4 newsreader Alice Arnold had converted their civil partnership to a marriage. The couple, who have been together 14 years, had a private ceremony in Chiswick. They initially became civil partners in 2006, and announced their intention to convert to marriage last year.
She said it was an important step as it meant they would now be considered as legitimately married as opposite-sex couples.
“It’s about equality. It’s just about knowing that you can and knowing that you can say ‘I’m married’, and nobody’s going to think that’s married in inverted commas, no that’s actually married. I think it’s great.”
“We converted. So it was a civil partnership that we did in 2006, and then we actually went to the same registry office and they just backdate it to when you did your civil partnership, so officially now we have been married since 2006.”
She when on to joke that she would like to have another party to celebrate. “I don’t know the etiquette though, are you allowed to ask for presents again. It’s all about the party and the presents.”
This week Prime Minister David Cameron declared Ms Balding his “gay hero”. He said: “I’m a big fan. I love her enthusiasm; her zest for life… it doesn’t matter what sport she’s talking about, she can make it interesting. She’s a wonderful human being.”
