Christina Rau

September 2001: with husband on occasion of the visit of the Russian president Vladimir Putin

Christina Rau (born Christina Delius on 30 October 1956 in Bielefeld) is the widow of Johannes Rau, President of Germany from 1999-2004.

Early life

Rau is the maternal granddaughter of former President Gustav Heinemann. Her father was Eduard Delius (1922–2013), part in a long line of entrepreneurs in the textile industry of the Westphalian city of Bielefeld. She attended boarding school in Switzerland (Hochalpines Institut Ftan) and Scotland (Gordonstoun, where The Prince Andrew was one of her classmates). Subsequently, she studied political science, economics and history at the University College of Wales and at King's College London.

Wedding

On 9 August 1982, she married Johannes Rau, 25 years her senior, who was at that time the Prime Minister of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The couple had three children: Anna Christina (1983), Philip Immanuel (1985) and Laura Helene (1986). The family lived in Elberfeld until 1999, and then moved to Berlin.

Activities

She was the patron of :

Honours

Foreign Honours

References

  1. ↑ "Reply to a parliamentary question about the Decoration of Honour" (pdf) (in German). p. 1654.
  2. ↑ Estonian Presidency Website (Estonian), Estonian State Decorations, Christina Rau
  3. ↑ Icelandic Presidency Website (Icelandic), Order of the Falcon, Johannes & Christina Rau, 1 July 2003, Grand Cross with Collar & Grand Cross respectively
  4. ↑ Boletín Oficial del Estado
  • Björn Engholm: Die First Lady, Spiegel Special 5/1999]
  • "Anne Will: Die Gäste im Studio, Sendung vom 17.01.2010, 21.45 Uhr: Christina Rau, Kindernothilfe-Botschafterin" (in German). Bayerischer Rundfunk. Retrieved 2010-10-19.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.