BBC favorite Graham Norton has reportedly married his long-term partner, whose identity remains unknown. The Irish host threw a lavish wedding ceremony in Ireland over the weekend to celebrate, according to reports.
According to Mirror, Irish TV presenter Graham Norton got married in a star-studded wedding affair in his native West Cork in Ireland over the weekend. The outlet writes that the How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria host welcomed 120 guests to a lavish party at the four-star venue Bantry House on Saturday.
According to its website, the Bantry House and Garden is a 'stately home situated on the Wild Atlantic Way overlooking Bantry Bay in the southwest of Ireland', which has been a popular destination for weddings and events. The celebrations continued the following day with a more relaxed party outside Norton's Ahakista home.
While information about the affair has been kept under wraps, it is reported that the guest list included singer Lulu, who took to Instagram on Monday to share some snaps of the wedding settings. The Scottish To Sir With Love singer was said to sing at the celebrations in front of Norton's friends and families. Another high-profile guest, according to The Sun, was drag queen and gay rights activist Panti Bliss, who performed a DJ set at the party.
Norton's partner's identity remains a mystery
The Any Dream Will Do host has been intensly secretive about his current romance, barely revealing anything to the public, even his new husband's name. Norton's wedding ceremony was therefore private and restricted to guests only to keep his partner out of the spotlight. However, the party was so uproarious that local residents nearby could felt its heat.
One local resident told The Sun:
'We knew Bantry House was closed for a private event, it was pretty common knowledge that it was a party for Graham and that it was to do with his marriage.'
Graham Norton was not fond of getting married
Prior to tying the knot with his 'mystery' partner, Graham used to take a dislike to marriage life, a result of a string of his ill-fated relationships. He dated Scott Michaels from 1995 to 2000 before dating Trevor Patterson from 2010 to 2013. After the couple split up in 2013, the BAFTA TV Award recipient went on to date music marketing consultant Andrew Smith only to break up again in 2015.
The 59-year-old was last linked to a member of the crew producing one of his TV shows. While he is open about his homosexuality and past romances, the BBC star has been intensely private about his current relationship.
According to the Dailymail, Norton once expressed his desire to be single, the inevitable conflicts integral to marriage. The star told Dailymail:
'You have your own rules as you get older. I would prefer to live alone for the rest of my life rather than live with towels that were folded incorrectly.'
He also mentioned the difficulties of maintaining a relationship given his high-profile background and homosexuality. The celebrated host said that his former partners ended up 'loathing' attending public events alongside Norton because they felt that they hadn't 'earned it for themselves'.
'If I were a straight man, my female partner would have a role in the eyes of society. She would be the mother of my children, my hostess, the person on my arm at red carpet events. She would have a defined function. But that's not the case if your partner is male. Every man – no matter how young or fey – has something of the alpha in him.'
