25 July 2023 , 12:28
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BBC Breakfast presenter Carol Kirkwood has gushed over her fiancé as she confessed their romance was unexpected.
The meteorologist, 61, has given a rare insight into her love life after she finally revealed her mystery man in March following their engagement last year. Carol has been in a relationship with police officer Steve Randall, 47, since 2021 and are soon set to say "I do".
Former Strictly Come Dancing star Carol had always kept her fiancé's identity under wraps including when she announced live on air that the pair had got engaged in May 2022.
She has now confessed she wasn't expecting to get into a relationship when she met Steve. "We were friends before we became romantically involved so we knew each other quite well before we started dating.
Carol says her relationship with fiancé Steve was unexpected (carolkirkwood/Twitter)
Carol says their relationship 'just happened' (Getty Images)“That was nice because it just kind of happened,” Carol told Closer magazine. “Who'd have thought that at this ripe old age, I'd be getting married again? I certainly didn't.”
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Carol was previously married to hockey player Jimmy Kirkwood but the couple divorced in 2008, while Steve was previously married to his now ex-wife Nichola Randall but they split in 2017 after 12 years of marriage.
The TV star declared her engagement during a live broadcast from the Chelsea Flower Show in May 2022. Despite being engaged for over a year, it seems the happy couple are in no rush to walk down the aisle.
As well as presenting the weather, Carol is also an accomplished novelist and her forthcoming third book begins with her characters preparing for an imminent wedding.
Asked by Best Magazine if this was a nod to her own impending nuptials, Carol laughed off the suggestion. She said: “Not just yet! We know we are definitely going to get married – we just haven’t sorted out the details yet. We’re just enjoying being engaged to be honest.”
The BBC Breakfast weather presenter and the police officer live together in Carol's £2million home in a gated community in Berkshire. It's understood they moved in together last year and residents of the complex described the couple as "down to earth".
Before announcing his identity, Carol gushed over Steve as she called him the "best thing that has ever happened to me". She told Prima Magazine: "I don't want to say too much about my boyfriend, but I will say that he is very kind and very funny – he's always making me laugh. And extremely handsome, as well.
"He always makes me a cup of tea before I go to work in the morning, which is very romantic – it's 2.45am and he often leaves me a little love note for when I come home from work. That, to me, is worth a million red roses. He is the best thing that's ever happened to me, without a shadow of a doubt."