<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <html><head><style type="text/css"></style><title>New Vice-Regal appointment Richard Butler to give up l</title></head><body> <div><font face="Lucida Grande" size="-3" color="#000000" >http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,7016668%2<span ></span>55E3462,00.html</font></div> <div><br></div> <div>The Hobart mercury</div> <div>21aug03</div> <div><br></div> <div>An extra vow of allegiance</div> <div><br> NEW Tasmanian Governor Richard Butler and his partner Jennifer Gray will not be the first unmarried couple to live at Government House in Hobart after all.<br> <br> Premier Jim Bacon revealed in Parliament yesterday that Mr Butler, 61, and Dr Gray, 46, would be getting married, probably before the swearing-in ceremony.<br> <br> That gives the high-profile couple just 44 days to tie the knot if they wed before Mr Butler is sworn in on October 3.<br> </div> <div>Mr Butler has promised to be "a modern governor" and the pair were expected to be the first de facto couple to reside at Government House in 200 years.</div> <div><br> Dr Gray's teenage son Seamus is also expected to join them after taking office on November 3.<br> <br> Mr Butler had commented earlier this week that the pair would be getting married "shortly".<br> <br> Mr Bacon drolly told Parliament that "some people were a touch concerned about the Governor's marital status".<br> <br> "They will be married by the time he is sworn in as governor, if not shortly thereafter," Mr Bacon said, to amusement on both sides of the House.<br> <br> Mr Bacon said Mr Butler and Dr Gray had a great love of Tasmania.<br> </div> <div>"I think everyone is going to have great enjoyment and even perhaps a touch of fun as we go about it," he said.</div> </body> </html>