Clare Drakeford, wife of Wales’s first minister, dies

Clare Drakeford, the wife of Wales’s first minister, Mark Drakeford, has died suddenly, the Welsh government announced on Saturday.

A Welsh government spokesperson said: “It is with deep sadness that we confirm the sudden passing of Clare Drakeford, wife of the first minister.

“The thoughts of everyone in the Welsh government are with the family at this time and we ask that their privacy is respected.”

Others including the Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Andrew RT Davies, tweeted their condolences.

Davies said: “My thoughts and prayers are with Mark Drakeford and his family at this exceptionally difficult time. On the occasions I met Clare, she was always a lovely lady and was very warm and kind. I’m shocked and deeply saddened to hear of her passing.”

Responding to the news, the Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader, Jane Dodds, said: “My thoughts are with the first minister and his family at this very difficult time.”

Mark and Clare Drakeford married in 1977. They have three children.

Drakeford, who has been the first minister of Wales since 2018, has rarely spoken about his family life but in February 2021, he revealed he had been isolating from his wife for most of 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic in order to keep her and her elderly mother safe while they were shielding.

Drakeford said he had been living in a separate building in the garden of his family home while his wife stayed inside the main home.

Speaking on an ITV Wales podcast, the first minister said: “It is a bit emotional. I’ve been married for a very long time and not to be in the house and to be at a physical distance, even though we saw each other every day and talked every day, it was a puzzling experience in that sort of way and for that to be over it is a bit emotional for everybody.”