Virgin Radio’s Graham Norton marries partner in huge Irish wedding
GRAHAM Norton has married his partner and thrown a lavish wedding party in Ireland over the weekend to celebrate, according to reports.
The 59-year-old chat show host lives in London but has a holiday home in Ahakista in his native West Cork where he welcomed more than 100 guests to a huge party at Bantry House on Saturday, The Irish Examiner claims.
The celebrations continued the following day, with a number of marquees set up for a party outside Norton's Ahakista home.
Singer Lulu reportedly sang at the celebrations, with drag queen and gay rights activist Panti Bliss DJing and Irish dancing group Cairde
putting on a performance.
There has been speculation that Graham and his partner were already legally married before Saturday's event, which was believed to be a blessing ceremony.
Graham - thought to be worth £24million - is famously secretive about his personal life.
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One local resident told Cork Beo: "We knew Bantry House was closed for a private event, it was pretty common knowledge that it was a party for Graham and that it was to do with his marriage.
"We were hearing all sorts of names, Lady Gaga, Elton John was supposed to be singing, we've not seen any of them but there's been a big buzz around Bantry.
"We could all hear the music from Bantry House on Saturday night - they certainly got the weather for it!"
The author and presenter was born in Dublin but grew up in Cork and maintains strong links to the area.
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He has been recording his UK radio show for Virgin Radio from the C103 studios in Cork, before taking some time off.
He recently said: "I snuck in this year. I don't think they know I’m there this year. Last year they posted a picture. So, this year, I just snuck in.
“I've done a few weeks in Bandon and now I'm off for a few weeks and when I get back, I'll be back in the news tower in London and doing it from there.”
Despite tying the knot in secret, Graham hasn't always been a fan of marriage.
Claiming he'd rather live alone for the rest of his life, he said previously: "You have your own rules as you get older. I would prefer to live alone for the rest of my life rather than live with towels that were folded incorrectly.
"Petty is important. That’s why marriages break up. Marriages don’t break up because of big things."
Graham dated Kristian Seeber, who performs in drag as Tina Burner and appeared on the 13th season of RuPaul's Drag Race.
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In the summer of 2015, he split from music marketing consultant Andrew Smith, saying that the public eye puts strain on his relationships.
He also dated Scott Michaels for five years until 2000 and was in a relationship with Trevor Patterson from 2010 to 2013.
