WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is engaged to be married, and it took a sharp eye for New Zealand to find out.

Ms. Ardern, 38, and her partner of more than five years, Clarke Gayford, 41, became engaged over Easter weekend, a spokesman for Ms. Ardern confirmed on Friday.

The prime minister made global headlines last June when she became the second elected world leader in modern times to give birth while in office, and she has since received widespread praise for her response to the Christchurch terrorist attacks in March.

There was no public announcement of the engagement, and neither she nor Mr. Gayford has commented.

The news emerged only because a reporter — a student journalist on an internship — spotted a ring on Ms. Ardern’s middle finger at an event on Friday and asked her office about it. Ms. Ardern had apparently been wearing the engagement ring since Monday.