Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel married his gay partner on Friday, becoming the first European Union leader to enter into a same-sex union in a symbol of growing social change across the continent.
Bettel, 42, a centre-right politician who became premier in 2013, tied the knot with Gauthier Destenay, a Belgian architect, just months after the conservative Roman Catholic duchy legalised gay weddings.
The prime minister, wearing a navy blue suit, and his partner, dressed in a dark grey suit, held hands as they arrived for the low key ceremony at the Luxembourg town hall, where around 100 well-wishers applauded them.
“Thank you to all Luxembourgers,” Bettel said after the ceremony, as the crowd threw rice and confetti over the happy couple.
As well as being the first leader in the 28-nation EU to wed a gay partner, Bettel is only the second in the world after Iceland’s prime minister Johanna Sigurdardottir, who married her writer partner in 2010. Iceland is not part of the EU.
Luxembourg’s parliament approved same-sex marriage in June 2014 and the first weddings took place on January 1, 2015, making it the latest in a growing number of European countrie to embrace the trend.
