Sarah Brown's early life
Sarah Brown was born Sarah Macaulay in Buckinghamshire on October 31, 1963, to school teacher mum Pauline and father Iain, who worked for the Longman publishing company. Sarah spent most of her childhood in Tanzania until her parents separated when she was seven. She moved to north London where she lived with her mother, brothers and stepfather.
After leaving Bristol University with a degree in psychology, she spent some time working in brand consultancy for Wolff Olins. By age 30, she had teamed up with friend Julia Hobsbawn to found the Hobsbawn Macaulay Communications public relations firm.
Sarah Brown's relationship with Gordon Brown
Sarah first met her husband Gordon Brown at a Labour Party event her firm was organising, but it wasn’t until she sat next to him on a flight from London to the Scottish Labour Party conference that they got the chance to talk. The short flight proved enough time for the two to hit it off and they soon began to date.
Their relationship remained secret for some time, with the couple enjoying romantic evenings at private members club Soho House in London. However, they made things official in 2000 with a wedding at Gordon’s home in North Queensberry, Fife.
Sarah gave up her PR business in 2001 when she became pregnant with the couple’s first child. She gave birth prematurely to daughter Jennifer Jane on December 28, 2001, who sadly died 10 days later.
On October 17, 2003, she gave birth to her second child, John, and on July 17, 2006, she became mother to James Fraser. Four months later baby James was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.
Sarah Brown's charity work
Following Jennifer's death, Sarah founded her charity, Theirworld, in 2002, which raises money for research into pregnancy complications and premature births. In 2004, the charity founded the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory at the University of Edinburgh.
The organisation also has a strong focus on global education, with its 11 million-signature #UpForSchool petition leading to a successful campaign to support funding for education in emergencies, which was presented at the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016.
Sarah is also Executive Chair of the Global Business Coalition for Education and works with over 100 companies across the world to achieve quality education for all children.
As well as this, she is the global patron of The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood and addressed world leaders of the G7/G8 in 2009 as part of the Maternal Mortality Campaign (2008-2011) to reduce deaths in pregnancy and childbirth around the world.
Sarah is also a Patron of Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres and SHINE Education Trust, as well as the author of the best-selling book Behind the Black Door [2011], a memoir about life as the Prime Minister's wife.