Broadcast journalist Clare Balding has been a regular fixture on our screens for many years, and we'll see a lot more of her during the 2024 Trooping the Colour event, but you may not know much about her private life. Clare has a partner called Alice Arnold and the pair are happily married – here is the lowdown…
How did Clare Balding meet Alice Arnold?
The couple met in 1999 through their mutual employer, the BBC, which Clare obviously still works for today. They were friends at first though before their relationship progressed to something more.
When did Clare Balding marry Alice Arnold?
In 2006, Clare and Alice entered into a civil partnership together but in 2015 when gay marriage was legalised, the couple had an official wedding ceremony. Their marriage is now backdated so they have been officially hitched since 2006!
Speaking on The Jonathan Ross Show, Clare admitted it was a low-key affair: "We didn't have a big party at all actually. Nobody came apart from us."
What has Clare Balding said about marriage?
In the same interview with Jonathan, Clare spoke about same-sex marriage: "It's about equality. It's just about knowing that you can and knowing that you can say: 'I'm married'. And nobody's going to think that's married in inverted commas... I think it's great."
Asked about the secret to her marriage, in 2021 Clare told The Mirror: "Watching telly together! No, we are very easy together. We don’t row. I don’t know how we achieve that but I don’t think there is a secret. You’re on this wonderful adventure together.I’m always saying to Alice, 'Let’s do this – it will be fun.'
"We went walking around Scotland the week after the Olympics finished, as I was recording a series of BBC Radio 4’s Ramblings. Normally, Alice wouldn’t come with me for a work thing, but we loved it. We’re determined to have more adventures together because it enlivens you. Lockdown shrank our ability to go places, so it made us conscious of how much we want to do that now we can. We’re making up for lost time."
Do Clare Balding and Alice Arnold wear wedding rings?
There was a bit of confusion when Clare was spotted without her wedding ring while presenting the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in Brazil, but all of those panicked Twitter messages were soon cleared up. Wife Alice explained that Clare was advised not to travel with her ring in case it got lost abroad.
Where do Clare Balding and Alice Arnold live?
The couple have previously appeared on Celebrity Gogglebox, inviting the public into their gorgeous home. They live in the leafy and affluent London suburb of Chiswick.
"It has that perfect feel of living in London but not living in London. All the stallholders at Chiswick farmers’ market know me and know their racing so we’re always chatting," Clare told the Evening Standard