Silvia is Queen of Sweden as the wife of King Carl XVI Gustaf. She has held this title since her marriage to Carl Gustaf in 1976. The king and queen have three children:Crown Princess Victoria,Prince Carl Philip,and Princess Madeleine.
Horst Köhler is a German politician who served as President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. As the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties,the CDU and the CSU,as well as the liberal FDP,Köhler was elected to his first five-year term by the Federal Convention on 23 May 2004 and was subsequently inaugurated on 1 July 2004. He was reelected to a second term on 23 May 2009. Just a year later,on 31 May 2010,he resigned from his office in a controversy over a comment on the role of the German Bundeswehr in light of a visit to the troops in Afghanistan. During his tenure as president,whose office is mostly concerned with ceremonial matters,Köhler was a highly popular politician,with approval rates above those of both Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and later Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Roman Herzog was a German politician,judge and legal scholar,who served as the president of Germany from 1994 to 1999. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU),he was the first president to be elected after the reunification of Germany. He previously served as a judge of the Federal Constitutional Court,and he was the President of the court 1987–1994. Before his appointment as a judge he was a professor of law. He received the 1997 Charlemagne Prize.
HeinzFischer GColIH,OMRI,RSerafO,GCollSE is an Austrian politician who served as the president of Austria from 2004 to 2016. Fischer previously served as minister of science from 1983 to 1987 and as president of the National Council of Austria from 1990 to 2002. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) until 2004,he suspended his party membership as he became president.
Franz Bonaventura Adalbert Maria Herzog von Bayern,commonly known by the courtesy title Duke of Bavaria,is the head of the House of Wittelsbach,the former ruling family of the Kingdom of Bavaria. His great-grandfather King Ludwig III was the last ruling monarch of Bavaria,being deposed in 1918.
Hans-Gert Pöttering is a German lawyer,historian and conservative politician,who served as President of the European Parliament from January 2007 to July 2009 and as Chairman of the CDU-affiliated Konrad Adenauer Foundation from 2010 to 2017.
Wolfgang Schäuble was a German politician whose political career spanned more than five decades. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU),he was the longest-serving member of any democratic German parliament. Schäuble served as the 13th president of the Bundestag from 2017 to 2021.
Karl Ernst Thomas de Maizière is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 2009 to 2011 and 2013 to 2018,as well as Federal Minister of Defence from 2011 to 2013. He previously served as Head of the Chancellery and Federal Minister for Special Affairs in the First Merkel cabinet from 2005 to 2009. Since 2009,he has been a member of the Bundestag for Meißen.
Alan John Watson,Baron Watson of Richmond is a UK-based broadcaster,Liberal Democrat politician and leadership communications consultant.
Joe Kaeser is a German manager who served as CEO of Siemens AG from 2013 to 2021.
Ronald Pofalla is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as the Chief of Staff of the German Chancellery and a Federal Minister for Special Affairs from 2009 to 2013,in the second coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel. From 2017 to 2022,he was the CEO of the infrastructure department of Deutsche Bahn.
Philipp Rösler is a German former politician who served as federal minister of health from 2009 to 2011 and federal minister of economics and technology as well as vice-chancellor of Germany from 2011 to 2013.
Maria Böhmer is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Under the leadership of successive ministers Frank-Walter Steinmeier (2013-2017) and Sigmar Gabriel (2017),she served as Minister of State in the Federal Foreign Office,primarily responsible for cultural relations and education policy.
Marianne Birthler is a German human rights advocate and politician of the Alliance '90/The Greens. From 2000 to 2011,she served as the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records,responsible for investigating the past crimes of the Stasi,the former communist secret police of East Germany. In 2016 she was offered the nomination of the CDU/CSU and her own party for President of Germany,but after some time decided not to run;the parties would have had a majority in the Federal Convention,securing her the election.
Joachim Wilhelm Gauck is a German politician who served as President of Germany from 2012 to 2017. A former Lutheran pastor,he came to prominence as an anti-communist civil rights activist in East Germany.
Volker Bouffier is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Minister President of the German state of Hessen from 31 August 2010 to 31 May 2022. From 1 November 2014 until 31 October 2015 he was President of the Bundesrat and ex officio deputy to the President of Germany.
Gerda Hasselfeldt is a German politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) who served as deputy chairperson of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group and chairwoman of the Bundestag group of CSU parliamentarians. Following her departure from active politics,she became President of the German Red Cross in 2018.
Salaam-Schalom is an intercultural activist initiative,which was established in December 2013 by Berliner Jews and Muslims. It stands for a peaceful co-existence and solidarity,and promotes these aims by implementing various interventions and projects which raise awareness to social and institutional exclusions in mainstream German society.
Monika Grütters is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2013-2021. She has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2005 and was chairwoman of the Committee on Culture and Media Affairs from 2009 to 2013. Since December 2016,Grütters has also been the chairwoman of the CDU Berlin and an elected member of the CDU Federal Executive Board.
