Editing Harold Wilson (section)

== Personal life ==
On New Year's Day 1940, in the chapel of [[Mansfield College, Oxford]], he married [[Mary Wilson, Lady Wilson of Rievaulx|Mary Baldwin]], whom he remained married to until his death. Mary Wilson became a published poet, and outlived her husband by 23 years. She died on 6 June 2018 at the age of 102. They had two sons, [[Robin Wilson (mathematician)|Robin]] and Giles (named after [[Giles Alington (academic)|Giles Alington]]); Robin became a professor of mathematics, and Giles became a teacher and later a train driver.<ref>{{cite news |title=Son of former PM Harold Wilson swaps teaching for a career as train driver |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/son-of-former-pm-harold-wilson-swaps-teaching-for-a-career-as-train-driver-7210307.html |work=[[Evening Standard]] |date=20 November 2006 |access-date=11 December 2019 |archive-date=8 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200108005911/https://www.standard.co.uk/news/son-of-former-pm-harold-wilson-swaps-teaching-for-a-career-as-train-driver-7210307.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In their twenties, his sons were under a kidnap threat from the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army|IRA]] because of their father's prominence.<ref>{{cite news |last=Usborne |first=Simon |title=And you thought your family politics were bad... what's it like to be the child of a politician? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/and-you-thought-your-family-politics-were-bad-what-s-it-like-to-be-the-child-of-a-politician-8572555.html |work=[[The Independent]] |location=London |date=19 September 2006 |access-date=29 November 2019 |archive-date=5 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200105203241/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/and-you-thought-your-family-politics-were-bad-what-s-it-like-to-be-the-child-of-a-politician-8572555.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In April 2024, [[Joe Haines (journalist)|Joe Haines]], who had served as Wilson's press secretary during his time as Prime Minister, revealed that Wilson had had an affair with Haines' deputy Janet Hewlett-Davies during his final two years in office. Hewlett-Davies died aged 85 in October 2023.<ref name=times-20240410>{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/harold-wilson-affair-prime-minister-downing-street-press-secretary-2mfkzdljv |title=Revealed: Harold Wilson's secret Downing Street affair |last=Maguire |first=Patrick |newspaper=The Times |location=London |url-access=subscription |date=10 April 2024 |access-date=10 April 2024}}</ref><ref name=telegraph-20240410>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/10/harold-wilson-secret-affair-janet-hewlett-davies/ |title=Harold Wilson had secret affair in second term in No10 – and it wasn't his secretary |last=Rayner |first=Gordon |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |url-access=subscription |date=10 April 2024 |access-date=10 April 2024}}</ref> Speaking on BBC Radio 4's ''[[Today (BBC Radio 4)|Today]]'' programme, Wilson's former adviser [[Bernard Donoughue]] said the affair had provided "a little sunshine at sunset" for Wilson, who was becoming "increasingly paranoid about the security services", was dealing with political difficulties, and was possibly in the early stages of [[dementia]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bracknellnews.co.uk/news/national/24245633.wilsons-affair-gave-sunshine-sunset-says-former-adviser/|title=Wilson's affair gave him 'sunshine at the sunset', says former adviser|date=11 April 2024|website=Bracknell News}}</ref>