Malia Obama’s boyfriend rated as ‘quite a catch’
WASHINGTON: Malia Obama’s boyfriend has been revealed to be a British public schoolboy who met the former United States first daughter at Harvard University.
Rory Farquharson, a former head boy at the renowned Rugby School, was linked to former president Barack Obama’s eldest daughter after footage emerged appearing to show them kissing during a Harvard-Yale American football game.
Obama started at the Ivy League university this autumn, following in the footsteps of her parents, who both attended Harvard Law.
Farquharson began his studies at the university last year after completing his A-levels, posting a picture of himself at the campus with the caption: ‘‘So it begins.’’
The 19-year-old, who attended the £11,584-a-term (NZ$22,450) boarding school, was also a member of its chemistry club, the Blue Bunsen Society.
Farquharson was selected ‘‘head of school’’ at the private school for the year 2015-16 and was described as popular and ‘‘quite a catch’’, according to one of his friends.
He appears to be a talented sportsman as well as academically gifted, representing his school in both golf and rugby matches.
He even took part in a rugby video played at the World Cup opening ceremony in 2015, in which Prince Harry also made an appearance.
Farquharson spent the northern summer as an intern with the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building in Northern Ireland.
His father, Charles, 57, who has a degree in law from St Catharine’s College, Cambridge, is the chief executive of Insight Investment Management Limited based in London.
His mother, Catherine, 58, is a qualified accountant who sits as a lay person on financial and legal tribunals in London’s Upper Tribunal. The family live in a £1.6 million six-bedroom detached home in Woodbridge, Suffolk.
The teenager’s Twitter account suggests he has an interest in following his father’s career path as he follows several banking-related accounts.
His Twitter account suggests he is a vocal critic of Donald Trump, the current US president, retweeting a post that suggested Trump’s ‘‘populism’’ was unlikely to last more than a year.
It is likely that Malia Obama, who is also 19, only met and began dating Farquharson within the last few months, when Obama joined Harvard for her first year.
The video shows Obama smoking a cigarette and smiling before putting her arms around the young man.
Last year her father revealed that Malia and her younger sister Sasha had already started dating, but joked that he was ‘‘pretty relaxed’’ about the prospect because the family still have Secret Service protection.
‘‘They’ve had Secret Service. There’s only so much these guys can do.’’ – Telegraph Group