Lockwood Smith pops the question

GETTING MARRIED: Dr Lockwood Smith, 60, plans to wed longtime girlfriend Alexandra Lang in Parliament on July 4.

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Thirty-nine years after meeting his "sweetheart" at university, Lockwood Smith has finally got around to popping the question.

The Speaker of the House and one-time television quiz master proposed on Christmas Day to his long-time girlfriend, Alexandra Lang.

Smith met Lang in 1970 when they were both students at Massey University in Palmerston North. Lang had just returned from an overseas exchange and was introduced to Smith by a friend, who will serve as the couple's best man at their July wedding.

"She was just an amazing person," Smith recalls. "Anyone who meets her is just amazed by her genuine loveliness."

The couple quickly became sweethearts but went their separate ways when Smith went to Australia on a Commonwealth scholarship. For 25 years they lived separate lives before a chance meeting brought them back together again in 1999.

Lang, who has been married and has four children, was working as a school counsellor at King's College in Auckland when Smith, who was then minister of education, came to the school on an official visit.

One thing led to another and the university sweethearts were soon back together.

Lang, who now works as a counsellor at Otamatea High School, near Smith's farm in Northland, says his proposal came as a complete surprise.

Smith says he chose Christmas Day because he wanted Lang's four adult children to share in the special occasion.

The couple, who plan to marry at parliament, will live at Smith's farm at Matakohe.