Hazel Irvine's shock secret wedding to mystery husband and baby at 43

Wales Online

04-05-2025

Hazel Irvine's shock secret wedding to mystery husband and baby at 43
The presenter is fronting the BBC's coverage of the World Snooker Championship final between Mark Williams and Zhao Xintong
Irvine is one of the most respected presenters in the business
The 2025 World Snooker Championship is nearing its conclusion, with Mark Williams and Zhao Xintong battling it out in the final at the Crucible Theatre.
Sunday's opening session saw Zhao race into a commanding lead, blowing three-time world champion Williams away and ending the session 7-1 up. The 28-year-old is playing as an amateur after being banned from snooker for 20 months following a match-fixing scandal, but could now become the first ever Chinese world champion if he can continue his fine form at the table.
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The final, which will conclude on Monday, is being shown live on the BBC - with presenter Hazel Irvine fronting the coverage as she has done right throughout the tournament.
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The 59-year-old is one of the most recognisable and respected sports presenters in the business, with her broadcasting career stretching back nearly 40 years.
Having excelled at sport - namely golf, netball and athletics - at university, Irvine began her career on the radio, before moving to Scottish Television and later becoming a sports reporter for the network.
She went on to co-host ITV's coverage of the 1988 Olympics and reported from the Scotland football team's training camp during the 1990 World Cup in Italy, before moving to the BBC in the same year and taking up the role of presenter for BBC Scotland's Sportscene programme.
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Since the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, she has been a constant fixture for the broadcaster, covering nine Summer Games, five Winter Olympics, six Commonwealth Games and four FIFA World Cups.
She has led the BBC's coverage of the Triple Crown snooker tournaments - the World Championship, the Masters and the UK Championship - since 2002 and also covered golf for the broadcaster for 25 years, as well as some non-sporting presenting roles.
However, despite her remarkable and well-documented career, little is known about Irvine's personal life, with the St Andrews-born presenter managing to keep it out of the spotlight.
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In fact, when she got married in 2008, it came as a complete shock to fans - with the identity of her husband still unknown.
It was first reported months after the event that Irvine had tied the knot with her mystery partner in a private ceremony in Scotland , with only close family and friends in attednance.
The presenter had sparked marriage rumours when she presented coverage of The Open at Loch Lomond wearing a ring, with her agent later releasing a statement confirming the news.
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"I can confirm that she married her long-term partner a few months ago," the statement read. "It was a small and very private affair, and she and her husband are very happy. She wants to keep all the details private."
The following year, the couple welcomed a daughter together but, again, her name has never been disclosed publicly.
Irvine - who was 43 when she gave birth - had announced the news while at a charity sports quiz in London, telling the audience she had her "own credit crunch looming".
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She added: "My clothes are already feeling the squeeze. My husband and I have a new arrival coming in the spring - which is going to be a drain on my own profits."
In an interview with MailOnline five years later, she said the birth of her daughter was the thing that "altered the course of her life and character", as she explained: "I'm 48 now so having her quite late was truly fantastic. The greatest gift has been rediscovering the world through her eyes."