Marina Wheeler Explained

Known For:
Birth Name:Marina Claire Wheeler
Birth Date:1964 8, df=yes
Birth Place:West Berlin (now Berlin, Germany)
Nationality:British
Children:4, including Lara[1]
Father:Charles Wheeler
Education:
Alma Mater:

Marina Claire Wheeler (born 18 August 1964) is a British lawyer and writer. As a barrister, she specialises in public law, including human rights, and is a member of the Bar Disciplinary Tribunal. She was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2016.[2]

She is the author of The Lost Homestead: My Mother, Partition and the Punjab (2020) and is an ex-wife of former British prime minister Boris Johnson.

Early life and education

Marina Claire Wheeler was born in West Berlin on 18 August 1964, to Charles Wheeler, a BBC correspondent, and his second wife Dip Singh, an Indian Punjabi Sikh.[3] Her elder sister is Shirin Wheeler.[3]

Wheeler was educated at Bedales School and then the European School of Brussels, and then in the early 1980s at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, where she wrote for the student magazine Cantab.[4] [5] [6]

At the European School, she became friendly with Boris Johnson, later a journalist and politician.[7]

Career

After Cambridge, Wheeler returned to Brussels and worked there for four years. In 1987, she was called to the Bar, practising from chambers in London at One Crown Office Row. In her work as a barrister, Wheeler specialises in mental health matters and discrimination claims. In January 2004, she was appointed to the B-Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown.[8] In 2009, she joined the Bar Disciplinary Tribunal as a barrister member.[9]

Of her legal work, Wheeler has stated:

In February 2016, she was appointed Queen's Counsel.[10]

In October 2023 she was announced as the Labour Party's advisor on protecting women from workplace sexual harassment and discrimination.[11]

Personal life

On 8 May 1993, a pregnant Wheeler married her childhood friend Boris Johnson, whose previous marriage had ended 12 days earlier.[12] Together they have four children, including Lara Lettice,[5] [13] their eldest child born 12 June 1993.[12]

In September 2018, Johnson and Wheeler issued a statement confirming that after 25 years of marriage, they had separated "several months ago" and begun divorce proceedings.[14] They reached a financial settlement in February 2020,[15] and the divorce was finalised in 2020.[16]

In August 2019, Wheeler revealed that she had been diagnosed with cervical cancer earlier in the year and had undergone two operations to be in remission.[17]

Memoirs

See main article: article and The Lost Homestead. In 2020 her memoir The Lost Homestead: My Mother, Partition and the Punjab, detailing her family's history in India, was published.[18] Her ancestry goes back to the city of Sargodha in West Punjab, present-day Pakistan, with her maternal family migrating to present-day India after the Partition of India.[19] [20] It was shortlisted for the 2021 RSL Christopher Bland Prize.[21]

External links

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Notes and References

  1. Web site: Beck . Laycie . Complicated love life: Meet Boris Johnson' six children and two ex-wives . Unifresher . 5 December 2021 . 24 December 2021.
  2. News: New QCs Justine Thornton and Marina Wheeler: Is the legal profession still sexist?. Williams. Zoe. 22 January 2016. The Guardian. 25 January 2020. en-GB. 0261-3077.
  3. Book: Wheeler, Marina. The Lost Homestead: My Mother, Partition and the Punjab. 2020. Hodder & Stoughton. 978-1-4736-7774-6. London. English. 1147952565. 139.
  4. https://web.archive.org/web/20080705151419/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2246935/Charles-Wheeler.html Sir Charles Wheeler
  5. News: 3 May 2008. Family of influence behind Boris Johnson. dead. The Daily Telegraph. https://web.archive.org/web/20090810000624/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/borisjohnson/1924866/London-mayor-elections-2008-Family-of-influence-behind-Boris-Johnson.html. 10 August 2009.
  6. Amit Roy, Boris gets on his bike from The Telegraph of Calcutta, 11 May 2008.
  7. Brian Wheeler, The Boris Johnson story dated 4 May 2008 at news.bbc.co.uk
  8. Web site: One Crown Office Row - Barrister Details . 4 May 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080506061256/http://www.1cor.com/1144/?form_668.replyids=48 . 6 May 2008 . dead .
  9. Web site: Marina Wheeler. 1cor.com.
  10. Web site: Guardian Legal Network . Inforrm.wordpress.com . 11 January 2016 . 25 July 2019.
  11. Web site: Boris Johnson's ex-wife Marina Wheeler is Labour's sex harassment adviser . BBC News . 8 October 2023 . 8 October 2023.
  12. News: Marina Wheeler, profile: The brains behind Boris Johnson. The Mayor’s wife couldn’t be more different from her husband – but are they on the same side of the EU debate?. 13 February 2016. Andy McSmith. The Independent. 31 May 2021.
  13. News: Wheeler. Brian. 4 May 2008. The Boris Johnson story. BBC News. 1 August 2021.
  14. News: Boris Johnson and wife to divorce . BBC News. 10 September 2018 . 7 September 2018.
  15. News: PM reaches financial settlement with estranged wife . Jonathan . Ames . The Times . 18 February 2020 . subscription . 16 April 2020.
  16. Simpson. Annabel. 6 May 2020. Marina Wheeler opens up about life post-Boris Johnson. Tatler. 25 July 2023.
  17. News: I put off test that spotted my cervical cancer, says Boris Johnson's wife Marina Wheeler. The Times. 12 August 2019. Moore. Matthew.
  18. Book: Wheeler, Marina. The Lost Homestead: My Mother, Partition and the Punjab. 2020. Hodder & Stoughton. 978-1-4736-7774-6. London. English. 1147952565.
  19. Web site: Murtaza Ali Shah . London Mayor, wife wish to visit 'amazing' Pakistan | World . Geo.tv . 2 May 2015 . 24 July 2016.
  20. Web site: London mayor, wife wish to visit Pakistan soon – The Express Tribune . Tribune.com.pk . 3 May 2015. 24 July 2016.
  21. Web site: 17 May 2021. RSL Christopher Bland Prize 2021 – Shortlist announced. 25 June 2021. Royal Society of Literature. en-GB.

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