Carrie will go to Balmoral as first PM’s girlfriend to meet Queen
CARRIE SYMONDS is to accompany Boris Johnson on his visit to Balmoral next month where she will be introduced to the Queen.
Following lengthy discussions between D owning Street and Buckingham Palace, an invitation to travel to the Monarch’s Scottish estate has been extended to Ms Symonds, who has moved into the Prime Minister’s flat above No 11 Downing Street.
Ms Symonds’s trip to Balmoral will be the first for an unmarried partner of a sitting Prime Minister.
The decision follows her first public engagement at No 10 alongside Mr Johnson last week when they met guests from six hospices and paid tribute to their ‘hard work, dedication and compassion’.
However, she will not travel with Mr Johnson to next week’s G7 summit in the French seaside town of Biarritz due to work commitments.
It means that, instead of meeting US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania, the 31-year-old will be flying to America where she is expected to attend meetings in her role as an adviser for Oceana, a non- profit organisation that seeks to protect the world’s oceans.
A source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘There were many discussions over whether it would be right for Carrie to get an invitation to Balmoral, but in the end it was decided that i t’s 2019, the world has changed and progressed.
‘It is very much on the cards that she will meet the Queen and she and Boris will be there for as long as the Brexit discussions allow him to be. The stay will depend on how long is necessary or indeed possible. ‘ She won’t be at G7, but t hen Samantha Cameron didn’t ever join David when he was in office, so it’s not out of the ordinary for the PM’s partner not to attend.’ News of the visit to Balm oral follows Ms Symonds’s first solo speech since officially moving into Downing Street at an environmental conference in Leicestershire. Addressing more than 200 guests at the Birdfair conference held at Rutland Water Nature Reserve on Friday night, she condemned the trophy-hunting of puffins in Iceland. She teamed wellies, made necessary by muddy fields caused by recent heavy rain, with a £ 225 ‘eco-friendly’ red and blue floral dress created by British designer Justine Tabak. Ms Tabak, 55, a former creative director for Boden who launched her own fashion label three years ago, was yesterday inundated with preorders for the Liberty Garden Floral Riding House dress.
The granddaughter of an East London tailor, the mother-of-two posted a picture of the dress on her Instagram site with the message: ‘I had quite a few queries yesterday about the new Riding House dress.’
Fellow panellists at the Birdfair event included the naturalist and TV presenter Chris Packham and Dragons’ Den star Deborah Meaden, who praised Ms Symonds on Twitter. ‘You spoke wonderfully… informed, smart, motivating… it was a great event and lovely to meet you,’ she wrote.
As keen hikers, Ms Symonds and Mr Johnson are expected to spend part of their stay at Balmoral enjoying the glorious countryside which forms part of the Cairngorms National Park.
Ms Symonds is also likely to be buoyed by news that the traditional grouse shoot has been cancelled this year because bad weather has resulted in a fall in population.