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First Lady

"First Lady" is the title given to the wife of the elected leaders of many countries. The term originated in the United States to refer to the wife of the president. Over the years, "first" has been added to other relations to indicate a relative of the elected head of state, such as "first daughter" or "first family."

The term has also been used to refer to female artists who excel in a particular field and whose achievements, in contrast with political first ladies, have nothing to do with their spouse.

• Ruth Saint Denis was often referred to as “The First Lady of American Dance”—as she greatly influenced the development of this art form in the U.S.
• Another example is Ella Fitzgerald, who is often referred to as “The First Lady of Song"
• "The death of a great artist marks the moment when they pass into art history, the moment when their significance begins to crystallize for future generations. In the case of Betty Goodwin, that legacy is unusually rich. She was Canadian art's first lady of soul, a painter, printmaker and sculptor whose work expressed aspects of our national character (our collective experience of cultural diaspora, our terror of landscape, our humanism and pacifism) in ways that were unprecedented and powerful."—Sarah Milroy, "Death and loss defined artist as Canada's first lady of soul; Painter, printmaker and sculptor explored the phenomenon of absence to become an artist's artist who reshaped figurative painting in Canada and revealed much about our national character," The Globe and Mail, December 6, 2008
• "Born in Brussels, Peellaert first came to public attention in the French-speaking world in 1966 through his early work as a comic artist in a pop art vein with his character Jodelle...Jodelle was modelled on the singer Sylvie Vartan, widely viewed as her generation's first lady of ye-ye in France. Pravda was based on Francoise Hardy, the icon of cool French pop."—Ken Hunt, "Obituary: Guy Peellaert: Belgian artist most famous for his rock dreamscapes," The Guardian (UK), January 29, 2009
• "Another project with a question mark over it is a proposal for an 'eco-town' in Stratford-upon-Avon. The nationwide scheme was announced by the Prime Minister in 2008, but Gordon Brown quickly found himself under attack by the first lady of acting: Dame Judi Dench. Joining thousands of other residents in opposing the proposed 6,000-house development in the area, she said: 'There can be very few places in the world of such cultural significance...It is folly to put this at risk.' The town was not among the first four eco-town sites announced in July."—Stuart Parson, "Small towns 1, big business 0," The Times (UK), October 14, 2009.

How It's Used

“Yet it’s clear now, many experts say, that the scale of the first-family avarice, graft and business blundering was a key reason so many international investors fled Indonesia last year, aggravating the economic collapse that brought down the Suharto regime.”

“One way he cemented his hold on power was to do as his father did: place close relatives in influential positions. Kim's sister, Kim Kyung Hee, became a powerful figure within the Korean Workers Party and has been referred to in the government media as 'First Lady.’”

“As in other elephant populations, each family was dominated and guided by a matriarch, an older female, mother or grandmother to most of the members.  Wittemyer grouped the names in mnemonic familial clusters, a system that has been continued by later researchers at Samburu: the Spice Girls (including Rosemary, Basil, and Sage), the First Ladies (Eleanor, Martha, Lucy Kibaki, Jackie), the Biblical Towns (Babylon, Nazareth, Jerusalem), the Royals (Victoria, Cleopatra, Anastasia, Diana), and many others.”

"Maria Shriver, a lifelong Democrat and scion of the Kennedy dynasty who has been married to the Republican Governor for 23 years, has been thrust to the centre of public controversy after paparazzi photographs showed her repeatedly violating a ban on 'driving while dialling' that was introduced by her husband's office, with great fanfare, only last year. The first two shots, one taken on Sunday, the other several months ago, were published at lunchtime on Tuesday by the tabloid website TMZ. They immediately prompted Mr. Schwarzenegger to public apologise, promising readers of his Twitter feed that 'there's going to be swift action' taken against the Californian first lady.

"Thousands of French Internet users flooded video-sharing websites yesterday to enjoy a lampoon of their glamorous first couple, almost a week after they appeared on the U.S. show the The Simpsons. Cartoon caricatures of President Nicolas Sarkozy and first lady Carla Bruni starred in an episode of the Fox network animated show in the United States on Nov. 15 in an episode entitled 'The Devil Wears Nada.' Their cameos passed largely unnoticed in France until yesterday, when news websites started linking to pirated clips of the episode."

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