New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, 37, has announced she is expecting her first child in June. This means she will combine her official duties and being a new mother.
Jacinda Ardern discovered she was pregnant just two weeks before she became prime minister-elect following her surprising election result last year. Ardern took to Twitter to announce that she and her partner Clarke Gayford were expecting a child, and that Gayford would become a stay-at-home dad.
She wrote: "We thought 2017 was a big year! This year we’ll join the many parents who wear two hats. I’ll be PM & a mum while Clarke will be "first man of fishing" & stay at home dad. There will be lots of questions (I can assure you we have a plan all ready to go!) but for now bring on 2018."
Ms Ardern said the baby was unexpected and they had been told by doctors that she could not become pregnant without "help". She added she had not revealed the news earlier as she wanted to wait until after the early stages of pregnancy.
She said: "Clarke and I are privileged to be in the position where Clarke can stay home to be our primary caregiver."
"We consider ourselves lucky for another reason. Clarke and I have always been clear we wanted to be parents but had been told we would need help for that to happen. That's made this news a fantastic surprise. We first knew of my pregnancy on the 13th of October, but as many couples do in the early stages, we kept it to ourselves."
She said in a statement that she had asked Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters on Thursday to act as prime minister for six weeks after the birth. After the six weeks, she will resume all her prime ministerial duties.
"I fully intend to be contactable and available throughout the six-week period when needed," she said. "I will make arrangements for appropriate ministers to act in my other portfolios over the six weeks I am away from Parliament."
She is set to become only the second leader in modern times to give birth in office after Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s prime minister, whose daughter Bakhtawar was born in 1990.
Ms Ardern’s announcement was greeted by messages of support from well-wishers around the country and the world.
Bill English, the opposition leader, said: "It is an incredible privilege to be a parent. A new child will bring real joy to their lives. We wish them all the best."
Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s prime minister, congratulated his counterpart, adding: "When we spoke this morning you sounded more excited than you did when you won the election."
Two months earlier, just hours after she became the youngest leader of the Labour party, she faced controversial questions from local reporters about whether she had plans to have children. One host, Mark Richardson, questioned whether it was acceptable for the country's leader to take maternity leave while in office and Ardern replied, saying the question was "totally unacceptable in 2017".
"It is the woman's decision about when they choose to have children," she said.
Speaking beside her partner, she told reporters she would no longer be able to attend the upcoming wedding of Prince Harry.
Asked about the baby’s gender, she said: "We already know, but there is very little about our life we get to keep secret."
