Jacinda Ardern says Clarke Gayford asked both her parents for their permission to marry. / ZM
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has revealed fiance Clarke Gayford asked both her parents Ross and Laurel for permission to marry her.
Speaking on NZME's ZM show with Fletch, Vaughan and Megan, the Prime Minister was quizzed about the details of her engagement.
With Gayford in the spotlight, the ZM crew had a question they desperately wanted to know.
Megan asked if Gayford had asked Prime Minister's father Ross Ardern if he could marry her, upholding an old-fashioned tradition to first be granted permission by the girlfriend's father before proposing.
"I really need to know, if Clarke asked your dad? Was he traditional?" Megan asked.
After laughing, Ardern then responded revealing Clarke was both old-school and modern in his approach.
"That's a fine question! Do you know what, I actually asked him the same question for my own amusement not because I was going to judge either way...
"But he told me he asked both my parents. I like that. That was kind of old school and then at the same time a modern feminist twist on a very old tradition," Ardern said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has confirmed her engagement to long-time partner Clarke Gayford. Photo / NZME
The Prime Minister's father, David Ross Ardern, is the administrator of Tokelau, based in Auckland and is a former police officer.
In 2002 Ross Ardern received a Commissioner's Commendation for his work in the line of duty while investigating a robbery, kidnapping and sexual assault case in 1999.
Earlier this week it was revealed Gayford and the Prime Minister got engaged on top of Mokotahi Hill in the northern Hawke's Bay.
The couple spent Easter at Gayford's family bach in Mahia on the East Coast.
Ardern laughed that the proposal was "intimate", which included the Prime Minister's security team, a couple of locals and an interested dog.
"It was Clarke, myself, a member of the DPS, a couple of locals from Mahia, and a dog which then tried to eat the chocolate that Clarke brought for me at the same time. It was very romantic," she joked.
She appeared to indicate that Gayford had not gone down on one knee, saying that the security agents did not notice the proposal.
Gayford proposed with his grandmother's engagement ring.
The Prime Minister says she "has no idea" when she's expecting to get married.
