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According to “a source close to the prime minister’s office”, Haydon wanted to choose an Australian designer, but wanted one whose designs were sufficiently, ahem, cheap, to demonstrate sensitivity to the cost-of-living crisis.
It is an exquisite bridal dilemma – how to look cost-conscious yet chic?
Previously, Haydon has definitely done chic.
Jodie Haydon in Carla Zampatti with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Midwinter Ball in August.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
She has commissioned gowns for special occasions from Australian designers such as Karen Gee, who made the black dress Haydon wore to Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.
She wore Carla Zampatti to the Midwinter Ball earlier this year, and in July, on an official visit with her fiance to China, she wore a floral-print, mandarin-collar shirt-dress by Leo Lin, an Australian-Chinese designer. She teamed it with a pair of sneakers, all the better for walking the Great Wall of China.
In 2023, it was a silver-sparkled Paolo Sebastian princess gown at the White House for a state dinner with Joe and Jill Biden.
Jodie Haydon and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at a state dinner hosted by then president Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden at the White House in 2023.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
In October, Albanese and Haydon had a short holiday on the Micronesian island nation of Palau, which they reportedly used to nail down wedding arrangements.
Perhaps it was then that Haydon landed on her choice of gown: a full-length figure-skimming Romance Was Born dress with bead detailing.
During the trip, they also went on a dugong-spotting eco-tour with the president of Palau and his wife – one of the many unexpected experiences that now make up Haydon’s life, ever since she slid into Albanese’s DMs when he was a lowly opposition leader back in 2020.
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Her approach followed the pair’s first meeting at a conference in Melbourne, where Albanese made an address. He asked if there were any Sydney Rabbitohs fans in the crowd (an unlikely prospect given the location).
Haydon, who was attending the conference in a professional capacity, yelled out “Up the Rabbitohs!” and romance was born.
Their relationship started with a drink at the Young Henry’s brewery in Sydney’s inner west, where both were then based (Albanese in Marrickville, Haydon in Stanmore).
Haydon was born in Bankstown in Sydney’s west but grew up on the Central Coast, where her family still lives – last year she and Albanese bought a holiday home in Copacabana to be near to her loved ones.
Haydon’s parents are both retired teachers, and her career path, working in industry superannuation and for unions, shows a strong sympathy with Labor values.
The couple were able to date discreetly for a while, before a paparazzi photographer caught them kissing.
Haydon has said there was no way to prepare for what was coming next – forming a relationship with a man with a public profile and ambitions for the prime ministership.
“But I had Anthony, who is really protective of me and reassuring, which I’m grateful for,” she said in 2022.
She was committed enough to move to Canberra with Albanese when he became prime minister in 2022.
She took on the role of spouse, accompanying him to campaign events and then official ones, too.
On Valentine’s Day 2024, Albanese proposed.
The prime minister has said he will work through summer, and they will take a short honeymoon next week. Once it is over, Haydon is not expected to change her work status or her activities much.
The job title of “first lady” does not exist in our democracy, but prime ministerial spouses sometimes take on patronages or support causes they are passionate about.
Haydon already brings something different to the role compared to many of her predecessors – she has a job and a career of her own.
At present, the 47-year-old works mostly remotely from Canberra in her role as head of strategic partnerships at Teachers Mutual Bank.
She travels to Sydney for work, or to the Central Coast to see her family (she drives an electric vehicle).
She is the chief patron of the National Portrait Gallery, but it is not known whether she will take on any other patronages or causes now she and the prime minister are married.
