Jacinda Ardern was on a date with another man when she first met Clarke Gayford
Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford met for the first time at the Metro Restaurant Awards in 2012. They're pictured here at the 2018 Halberg Awards.
Clarke Gayford says he met Jacinda Ardern for the first time at the Metro Restaurant Awards.
New Zealand's "first bloke" was master of ceremonies at the 2018 awards, which pick Auckland's top restaurants, on Monday in Auckland.
On stage, he revealed he'd met his future partner, and the current prime minister, at the same awards back in 2012.
Ardern had been the guest of model and TV personality Colin Mathura-Jeffree, who'd featured on the cover of that month's Metro magazine.
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Mathura-Jeffree confirmed the story on Tuesday. He said he'd introduced Ardern to people that night as "the future Prime Minister of New Zealand," which had embarrassed her.
It clearly didn't put Gayford off, although the couple didn't spend time together until Gayford approached Ardern with a constituency issue at a later date.
Gayford recently accompanied Ardern on a diplomatic trip to Europe, where they met with royals including Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla Duchess of Cornwall.
Mathura-Jeffree couldn't remember much about the moment the pair met except that there were "lots of smiles".
"I do know that when they got together I was like, 'Wow, nice couple.' Because I knew them both."
On the AM Show on Tuesday, Aziz Al-Sa'afin said Gayford also spoke about his recent trip overseas with Ardern, where they spent time at Buckingham Palace.
Colin Mathura-Jeffree took Ardern as his date to the restaurant awards where she met Clarke Gayford for the first time.
He said during his speech, Gayford joked that the palace's food was good, but not as good as the delicacies on offer at Ponsonby Food Court.
Ardern and Gayford are expecting a baby together in June.
- Stuff