Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Faiza Saqib

BBC presenter Carol Kirkwood ties the knot in secret wedding

BBC - Carol Kirkwood

BBC weather presenter Carol Kirkwood has officially tied the knot with her partner Steve Randall on Wednesday (27 December).

News of the wedding, which took place in Buckinghamshire, was revealed on BBC Breakfast on Friday. “It was the most perfect and romantic and intimate wedding. We are both so incredibly happy,” Kirkwood, 61, said.

It is the presenter’s second marriage following her divorce from cricket player Jimmy Kirkwood, from whom she split in 2008 after 18 years of marriage.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the meteorologist also thanked well-wishers and said she and Steve are "bursting with happiness".

“Thank you so much for all your lovely messages. We had the most perfect day. It was a tiny wedding but so romantic and intimate. A day we will never forget. We are bursting with happiness. It wasn’t a ‘secret’ wedding, just a private one,” she added.

Fans and friends were quick to congratulate Kirkwood online.

The BBC Breakfast account wished the couple well saying: “Congratulations Carol & Steve. Best wishes from your #BBCBreakfast colleagues.”

Pictures shared of the couple on their big day by the BBC Breakfast X account show Kirkwood wearing a boat neckline satin dress – a classic design popularised by the Duchess of Sussex – and holding a bouquet of long-stemmed roses.

Colleague Dan Walker wrote: “Congratulations to Carol and Steve. Steve is one very fortunate gentlemen and Carol is the best of us all. She is kind, caring, brilliant at her job and a wonderful person to be around. I wish them every happiness in their new life together.”

Carol Vorderman also sent well wishes and congratulations to the happy couple: “Huge congratulations GG....you are beautiful inside and out. Wishing you both every happiness as ever.”

ITV This Morning’s Rylan Clark added: “Congrats to you both Carol.”

Before tying the knot, Kirkwood spoke of her now husband Randall, describing him as “extremely handsome" and praising him for always making her laugh.

Carol and Steve got enagaged in 2022
— (BBC)

Speaking to Prima magazine, she said: "He always makes me a cup of tea before I go to work in the morning, which is very romantic – it’s 2.45am.”

"And he often leaves me a little love note for when I come home from work. That, to me, is worth a million red roses," she revealed, telling fans he is "the best thing that’s ever happened to me, without a shadow of a doubt,” she told the publication.

In May of 2022, the BBC Breakfast presenter revealed that she and Randall,48, were engaged. At the time, she showed off her engagement ring during a weather forecast and said: "We went out for a picnic, I had absolutely no idea.

"The weather was glorious, we were sitting chatting... he was fumbling in his pocket and then out came a ring, I thought he was joking actually, I didn’t believe him to start with."

Randall is a former police officer and according to reports, the couple were friends before things turned romantic.

"We were friends before we became romantically involved so we knew each other quite well before we started dating," she told Closer magazine.

"That was nice because it just kind of happened. Neither of us were looking for romance and there it was, it just evolves. It’s so lovely."

She went on to add: "Who’d have thought that at this ripe old age, I’d be getting married again? I certainly didn’t."

The Scottish presenter was a contestant in the 2015 series of BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing and was partnered with Pasha Kovalev.

Kirkwood had not previously publicly named her long-time partner or his surname and, speaking while promoting her debut romantic novel titled Under A Greek Moon in 2021, she told the PA News agency: “He’s only a secret boyfriend because I never talk about him.

“I always feel that, through my job, I put myself in the public eye and am very happy, but my partner and my family and my friends haven’t, so I’m hugely respectful of their privacy.

“I just don’t talk about them, other than to say that my partner is drop-dead gorgeous, he’s funny, he makes me very happy.”

She added: “He gets up at quarter to three in the morning to make me a cup of tea before going to work – if that’s not romantic, I don’t know what is.”

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.