Allegra Mostyn-Owen

Allegra Mostyn-Owen is a businesswoman and entrepreneur. She is well-known as the former wife of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Mostyn-Owen was born in 1964 in London to art historian and Christie’s Education chairman, William Mostyn-Owen and Italian writer Gaia Servadio. Mostyn-Owen was raised by her parents alongside her two brothers, Orlando and Owen. During her time as an undergraduate student at Trinity College at the University of Oxford, she worked as a journalist and met Boris Johnson. Mostyn-Owen and Boris Johnson married in 1987 before divorcing in 1993. She re-married in 2010.

Education and career

Mostyn-Owen attended Trinity College at the University of Oxford in 1983. She studied philosophy, politics, and economics as an undergraduate. Students often spoke of her as one of Oxford's most beautiful women. This judgement was confirmed through her modelling roles. These roles included being photographed by David Bailey for the cover of Tatler Magazine and Terence Donovan for Vogue Allegra was also on the books of the renowned Models1 modelling agency in London.

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Allegra Mostyn-Owen for the cover of Tatler Magazine: July/August 1984 Edition.

Allegra's career in journalism began when she became the joint student editor of Oxford's The Isis in 1985.

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Ceramic made by Allegra in March 2022.

After graduating from University, Mostyn-Owen started working for the British Newspaper, Evening Standard. She worked on the paper's gossip column 'Londoner's Diary' but resigned the following April. Following her exit from journalism, she received her master’s degree in EU Law from the Université libre de Bruxelles in Belgium.

Following her divorce from Boris Johnson, Mostyn-Owen embarked on a new career in English and Art. Mostyn-Owen began pursuing English and Art by teaching Muslim women at the Minhaj-UI-Quran Mosque in East London. Shortly after, she persuaded mosque elders to let her start art classes for boys and girls aged five to fourteen. In 2010, Mostyn-Owen spoke at a public event on the closing of the Muslim Mind and the audience was reportedly gripped by her ‘creative and kindly’ personality.

Allegra also creates ceramics in her studio in West London. She developed her ceramics through adult education in Hammersmith and Fulham and one-to-one tuition from Seth Cardew at Wenford Bridge. A collection of her ceramics can be found on her website and instagram page.

Relationship with Boris Johnson

Mostyn-Owen met Boris Johnson halfway through their first year at Oxford University. The pair met as a result of an error on his part. He was invited to a party that Allegra co-hosted which he arrived at on the wrong night with a bottle of wine. Allegra was reading an Economics textbook when he showed up at her door. Allegra recalled their exchange, "There's this stranger at the door who goes, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh." I'd never met him but he said he'd seen me at a Union debate." The pair drank the bottle he had brought and talked for several hours. There were "lots of good jokes and lots of bad jokes."

Their encounter caused them to develop a relationship. Allegra considered him her best friend. They exchanged notes several times a day after they met. These notes often contained ‘little rhyming couplets.’

They went on to date throughout Oxford University and were a ‘golden, glossy, head-turning double act.’ The pair were often described as the 'perfect couple' as Allegra was "the girl from the cover of Tatler" and he was "the future prime minister."

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Allegra Mostyn-Owen and Boris Johnson at The Sultans Ball at Oxford Town Hall in March 1986: Photographed by Dafydd Jones.

There is a photo of the pair attending The Sultans Ball at Oxford Town Hall in March 1986 in Photographer Dafydd Jones’s book Oxford: The Last Hurrah.. Jones explained that he had taken their picture because “they looked very comfortable with each other.”

The pair decided early on in their relationship to get married. They were both 23 and were the youngest of their Oxford set to marry. They were married on September 5, 1987, and their wedding was held at St Michael and All Angels, West Felton in Shropshire. At their wedding, a violinist and a viola player played a piece composed for the occasion by the highly regarded composer, Hans Werner Henze, titled 'Allegra e Boris – Duetto Concertante per Violino e Viola all’Occasione Delle Loro Faustissime Nozze il 5 Settembre, 1987.' The Daughter of Rod Steiger and Claire Bloom, Anna Steiger sang from The Marriage of Figaro.

They had their reception at the Mostyn-Owens’ country house, a grade II-listed estate called Woodhouse, sitting on 1,500 acres. Allegra wore flowers through her hair, whilst Johnson arrived with borrowed trousers. The media portrayed their wedding as perfect, with the Daily Mail describing it ‘as a cross between La Dolce Vita and Brideshead Revisited.' However, Allegra considered the day of their wedding ‘the end of their relationship rather than the beginning.’

After spending their honeymoon in Egypt, they settled in West Kensington and Johnson began working for The Times whilst Mostyn-Owen joined the London Evening Standard. Mostyn-Owen’s job was overshadowed by Johnson’s who was reportedly ‘married to his job.’ According to Mostyn-Owen, Johnson showed neither sympathy nor interest in her career life, and she found herself sitting alone in their apartment rarely spending an evening with her husband. Allegra would often not know where Boris was, "The really bad times were when he didn't tell me he was going to be away."

In the Summer of 1989, Mostyn-Owen finished her law exams and travelled to Brussels with Johnson after he became the European correspondent for The Daily Telegraph. As his career took off, their marriage collapsed.

During their six years of marriage, the pair broke up once and when Marina Wheeler became pregnant with Boris's child in 1993, Allegra ended their relationship.

During the UK's general election in 2019, Louisa Gosling spoke out against Boris and claimed that Allegra sought sanctuary in her flat for several weeks following an argument between the couple in 1990. Despite these claims, Allegra has never publicly said anything malicious about her former husband.

Mostyn-Owen and Boris had no contact following their divorce until he began inviting her for ‘periodic lunches.’ After hearing the news about Mostyn-Owen's second marriage, he rang to congratulate her and when he was seeking re-election as London Mayor, he recruited her as part of his Muslim Engagement Taskforce. In an interview with the London Evening Standard, Allegra claimed "he’s a better ex than he was a husband" and the pair are on good terms.

Second marriage

Since marrying her husband, who is from Pakistan, Mostyn-Owen explained, "I’m happy now, very happy" and that she found it "very rewarding to have this whole connection with Pakistan." Mostyn-Owen remains Christian and has ‘never been tempted to convert to Islam herself.’