Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's partner Clarke Gayford has described his "surreal" first days as New Zealand's "first gent".
Writing in the Spinoff, he tells of the changes to his life - including having to stop his infamous cat Paddles attempting to derail a phone call from Donald Trump and having to buy a proper suit.
It started before the election, when Gayford picked up the subtle hints his life was about to change.
"I mean it's hard not to notice when your partner suddenly has three suited, handsome, well-trained (and groomed) men following her every move," he says in the Spinoff.
"Meanwhile I didn't even own a proper suit, although I have since remedied this - via Hallensteins."
Gayford was filming for his TV series at 90 Mile Beach in Northland when he got word NZ First leader Winston Peters was about to decide the next prime minister of New Zealand.
"It was evening at the Pukenui cafe in Houhora and strangers next to me were intensely discussing which way he was going to go - National, they had decided," he wrote in the Spinoff.
"So I finished my Puku Burger, got in a Ute, drove back to Auckland, and jumped on a flight to Wellington."
There, he faced a nervous wait - which was amplified by the hard work and dogged reporting of Newshub's political reporters.
"It forced the likes of poor Paddy Gower up to 11, which meant that Lloyd Burr was almost cast adrift in space. All in the madness of being heard," Gayford writes.
Post-election, Arden's first call with US President Donald Trump was nearly interrupted by their cat, Paddles, who sprinted inside and "began announcing her very squawky arrival".
"There was a flurry of action as I tried to hustle it into the next room while quite literally the leader of the free world was connected through to our little home in Pt Chev," he writes.
However Gayford says he doesn't think life will change with his partner's new position.
"So I guess the plan from here is to keep life as normal as possible for us both. I don't think the boy from Gisborne and the girl from Morrinsville will find this all too difficult," he wrote in the Spinoff.
"Having said that, a friend has just sent me an article about my cat in a Danish newspaper."
Newshub.
