David Furnish has been granted British citizenship.
The 54-year-old filmmaker – who married 69-year-old musician Sir Elton John in 2014 after over 20 years together – relocated from Canada to Britain almost 30 years ago and feels "very blessed" and "extremely proud" to now be able to hold two passports as a dual national.
On Tuesday (31.01.17), David revealed the news by posting a picture of him standing beside his and Elton’s two children, Zachary, six, and four-year-old Elijah – who were both born via a surrogate – on his Instagram account.
He captioned the image: "A very emotional morning for me. This morning, I was sworn in as a British citizen. As an immigrant, I moved to the UK more than 27 years years ago. I was welcomed with open arms. This spirit of acceptance, tolerance and diversity has allowed me to achieve a life beyond my wildest dreams. I am a very blessed man, and I am extremely proud to now carry both British and Canadian passports. @eltonjohn#ShareTheLove (sic)."
However, David’s husband Elton – whom he was in a civil partnership with for nine years before they tied the knot when gay marriage was legalised – previously admitted although the UK is a "pretty civilised place" he has recently fallen out of love with his home country.
Speaking previously, he said: "People have been OK about gay marriage and things like that and suddenly they’re not. I have never, ever thought this of this country until now.
"I was always proud to come from here and to live here, because there are different opposing views about everything but it’s a pretty civilised place. At the moment, though, it’s not, and I don’t like it. It’s horrible."