First Lady of Portugal

First Lady of Portugal
First Lady of Portugal
Primeira-dama de Portugal
	Coat of Arms of the Portuguese Republic
	Incumbent; Vacant; since 9 March 2016
Residence	Belém Palace
Term length	5 Years (10 years if the President wins re-election)
Inaugural holder	Lucrécia de Arriaga
Formation	24 August 1911
Website	Presidency of the Portuguese Republic - First Lady (defunct)

Last updated October 02, 2024

First Lady of Portugal (Portuguese: primeira-dama) is the unofficial title attributed to the wife or Partner of the president of Portugal. To date, there has been no first gentleman of Portugal. The position is currently vacant since the first presidential inauguration of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in 2016.

History

The inaugural first lady of Portugal was Lucrécia de Arriaga (1911–1915), wife of the first president of the First Portuguese Republic, Manuel de Arriaga.^[1]

Maria Joana Queiroga de Almeida, Portugal's first lady from 1919 to 1923 and the wife of President António José de Almeida, was one of the country's first first ladies to take on public, ceremonial roles.^[1] She took on a very public role in 1920 as the hostess during the official state visit of Leopold III of Belgium, the then-heir to the Belgian throne, in 1920.^[1] By contrast, Almeida's successor, Belmira das Neves, first lady from 1923 to 1925, largely avoided the public spotlight, but played a supporting role to her husband, Manuel Teixeira Gomes, behind the scenes.^[1]

Role and duties

The role of the Portuguese president's spouse, be it "First Lady" or "First Gentleman", is not an official office and, as such, they are not given a salary or official duties. The first ladies have played a mere protocol role during official ceremonies and state visits. However, since 1996, under the presidency of Jorge Sampaio, the president's spouse has the right to a workplace and a three-people staff incorporated in the President's Office.^[2]^[3] In addition, according to the Portuguese State Protocol's order of precedence, the spouse of any high-ranking office holder is given the same rank as theirs, as long as the spouse is also invited to the ceremony.^[4]

Since the current president has no spouse and the main candidates in the last presidential election refused to continue with the president's spouse's workplace, the only two first ladies to have used it were Jorge Sampaio and Aníbal Cavaco Silva's wives: Maria José Ritta and Maria Cavaco Silva.^[2]^[3]

List of first ladies of Portugal

First Portuguese Republic (1910–1926)

Portrait	Name	Terms begins	Term ends	President
	LucréciaAugusta de Brito de Berredo Furtado de Melode Arriaga	24 August 1911	29 May 1915	Manuel de Arriaga
Vacant		29 May 1915	5 October 1915	Teófilo Braga
	Elzira DantasGonçalves PereiraMachado	5 October 1915	5 December 1917	Bernardino Machado
	Maria dos PrazeresMartinsBessa Pais	9 May 1918^[5]	14 December 1918	Sidónio Pais
	Marianade Santo António Moreira Freire Correia Manuel Torres de Aboimdo Canto e Castro	16 December 1918	5 October 1919	João do Canto e Castro
	Maria JoanaMorais PerdigãoQueiroga de Almeida	5 October 1919	5 October 1923	António José de Almeida
	Belmira das Neves	5 October 1923^[5]	11 December 1925	Manuel Teixeira Gomes
	Elzira DantasGonçalves PereiraMachado	11 December 1925	31 May 1926	Bernardino Machado

Second Portuguese Republic (1926–1974)

Portrait	Name	Terms begins	Term ends	President
	Maria das DoresFormosinho VieiraCabeçadas	31 May 1926	17 June 1926^[5]	José Mendes Cabeçadas
	HenriquetaJúlia de Mira GodinhoGomes da Costa	17 June 1926^[5]	9 July 1926	Manuel Gomes da Costa
	Maria do CarmoFerreira da SilvaCarmona	16 November 1926^[5]	18 April 1951	António Óscar Carmona
	Bertada Costa Ribeiro ArthurCraveiro Lopes	9 August 1951^[5]	5 July 1958	Francisco Craveiro Lopes
Vacant		5 July 1958	9 August 1958	Francisco Craveiro Lopes
	GertrudesRibeiro da Costa RodriguesTomás	9 August 1958	25 April 1974	Américo Tomás

Third Portuguese Republic (1974–Present)

Portrait	Name	Term begins	Term ends	President
	Maria HelenaMartins Monteiro de BarrosSpínola	15 May 1974	30 September 1974	António de Spínola
	MariaEstelaVeloso de Antas Varajão daCosta Gomes	30 September 1974	13 July 1976	Francisco da Costa Gomes
	MariaManuelaDuarte Neto PortugalRamalho Eanes	14 July 1976	9 March 1986	António Ramalho Eanes
	Mariade Jesus SimõesBarrosoSoares	9 March 1986	9 March 1996	Mário Soares
	Maria JoséRodriguesRitta	9 March 1996	9 March 2006	Jorge Sampaio
	MariaAlves da SilvaCavaco Silva	9 March 2006	9 March 2016	Aníbal Cavaco Silva
Vacant		9 March 2016	Present	Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa

In popular culture

In 2005, an exhibit on the history of Portugal's first ladies, called Primeiras-Damas da Republica Portuguesa 1910-2005 (Portuguese First Ladies Exhibition 1910-2005), opened at the IADE Cultural Centre in Lisbon.^[1] The exhibition, which encompassed two entire floors of the IADE's cultural centre, included documents, clothing, gowns, jewelry, and letters once owned by Portugal's first ladies.^[1]

Items on display included former first lady Maria Helena de Barros Spinola's black evening gown and 1920s-era clothing, fans and furs worn by Maria das Dores Cabeçadas, the first lady in 1926.^[1] Pieces from Maria José Ritta, who was the first lady at the time of the 2005 exhibition, included a lemon yellow Dior-style suit worn during her employment at TAP Portugal during the 1970s, as well as clothing and dresses worn during state visits to Brazil and other nations.^[1]

In 2011, journalist Alberta Marques Fernandes published her book As Primeiras-Damas ("The First Ladies") about the wives of the presidents of the Third Portuguese Republic.^[6]^[7]

Related Research Articles

First Lady or First Gentleman is an unofficial title usually used for the spouse, and occasionally used for the offspring or other relative, of a non-monarchical head of state or chief executive. The term is also used to describe a person seen to be at the top of her profession or art.

Jorge Fernando Branco de Sampaio was a Portuguese lawyer and politician who was the 18th President of Portugal from 1996 to 2006. Sampaio was a member of the Socialist Party, a party which he led between 1989 and 1992. He served as the Mayor of Lisbon from 1990 to 1995 and High-Representative for the United Nations' Alliance of Civilizations between 2007 and 2013.

The Socialist Party is a social-democratic political party in Portugal. It was founded on 19 April 1973 in the German city of Bad Münstereifel by militants who were at the time with the Portuguese Socialist Action. The PS is a member of the Socialist International, Progressive Alliance and Party of European Socialists, and has eight members in the European Parliament within the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group during the 10th European Parliament.

The president of Portugal, officially the president of the Portuguese Republic, is the head of state and highest office of Portugal.

Pedro Miguel de Santana Lopes is a Portuguese lawyer and politician, who is the current mayor of Figueira da Foz. He most notably served as prime minister of Portugal from 2004 to 2005.

The Belém Palace, formally the National Palace of Belém,, is the current official residence of the president of the Portuguese Republic, the head of state of Portugal. Located in the Belém District of Lisbon, the palace's main façade fronts the Praça Afonso de Albuquerque, facing the Tagus River. A former residence of the Portuguese royal family, the Belém Palace complex is made up of various buildings, wings, courtyards, and gardens, built variously from the 18th to 21st centuries.

Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa is a Portuguese politician and academic. He is the 20th and current president of Portugal, since 9 March 2016. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, though he suspended his party membership for the duration of his presidency. Rebelo de Sousa has previously served as a government minister, parliamentarian in the Assembly of the Portuguese Republic, legal scholar, journalist, political analyst, law professor, and pundit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria de Belém Roseira</span> Portuguese politician

Maria de Belém Roseira Martins Coelho Henriques de Pina is a Portuguese politician who served as Minister of Health from 1995 to 1999, Minister for Equality from 1999 to 2000, and President of the Socialist Party from 2011 to 2014. She is informally known as Maria de Belém.

The 1991 Portuguese legislative election took place on 6 October. The election renewed all 230 members of the Assembly of the Republic. There was a reduction of 20 seats compared with previous elections, due to the 1989 Constitutional revision.

The 1987 Portuguese legislative election took place on 19 July. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic.

The 1985 Portuguese legislative election took place on 6 October. The election renewed all 250 members of the Assembly of the Republic.

Presidential elections were held in Portugal on 23 January 2011. The elections resulted in the re-election of Aníbal Cavaco Silva to a second term as President of Portugal. Turnout in this election was very low, where only 46.52 percent of the electorate cast their ballots. Cavaco Silva won by a landslide winning all 18 districts, both Autonomous regions of Azores and Madeira and 292 municipalities of a total of 308.

Lucrécia Augusta de Brito de Berredo Furtado de Melo Arriaga was the wife of Manuel de Arriaga, the first President of the Portuguese Republic and was, thus, the first First Lady of Portugal from 1911 to 1915, when her husband resigned from the post.

Maria Alves da Silva Cavaco Silva is the wife of Aníbal Cavaco Silva, the 19th President of the Portuguese Republic and, as such, was the First Lady of Portugal from 2006 until 2016.

Presidential elections were held in Portugal on 24 January 2016. The election chose the successor to the President Aníbal Cavaco Silva, who was constitutionally not allowed to run for a third consecutive term.

Presidential elections were held in Portugal on 24 January. The incumbent President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, was reelected for a second term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elzira Dantas Machado</span> Portuguese feminist and First Lady of Portugal

Elzira Dantas Gonçalves Pereira Machado was a Portuguese feminist activist. From 1882 until her death in 1942, she was the wife of Bernardino Machado, two-time President of the Portuguese Republic and, as such, was the First Lady of Portugal from 1915 to 1917 and again from 1925 to 1926.

Michelle de Paula Firmo Reinaldo Bolsonaro is a former First Lady of Brazil from 2019 to 2023, being the third wife of the 38th President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro.

Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Portugal in January 2026. The elections will elect the successor to President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who is barred from running for a third term.

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Portugal's first ladies – the glamour and the glitz". Portugal Resident. 2005-10-28. Archived from the original on 2015-07-10. Retrieved 2015-07-09.
1 2 Falcão, Catarina (27 December 2015). "Primeira-dama. A tradição já não é o que era" [First Lady: the tradition is not what it used to be]. Observador (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 May 2018.
1 2 Henriques, João Pedro; et al. (15 January 2016). "Primeira-dama. Uma cortesia com fim à vista" [First Lady. A courtesy about to end]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 May 2018.
↑ "Lei n.º 40/2006 - Lei das precedências do Protocolo do Estado Português" [Law no. 40 of 2006 - Law of the precedences of the Portuguese State Protocol]. Diário da República (in Portuguese). 164/2006: 6185–6190. 25 August 2006 – via Diário da República Eletrónico.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Braga, Paulo Drumond (2010). "Os Presidentes da República Portuguesa: sociologia de uma função".
↑ "Lançado o livro sobre "As primeiras damas"" [Published the book about the First Ladies](Video and text). RTP Notícias (in Portuguese). 13 April 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
↑ Fonseca, Catarina Reis da (26 March 2011). "Histórias de quem fez a história de Belém" [Stories of who made Belém's history]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 May 2018.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[portres-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Portugal's first ladies – the glamour and the glitz". Portugal Resident. 2005-10-28. Archived from the original on 2015-07-10. Retrieved 2015-07-09.

[:0-2] 1 2 Falcão, Catarina (27 December 2015). "Primeira-dama. A tradição já não é o que era" [First Lady: the tradition is not what it used to be]. Observador (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 May 2018.

[:1-3] 1 2 Henriques, João Pedro; et al. (15 January 2016). "Primeira-dama. Uma cortesia com fim à vista" [First Lady. A courtesy about to end]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 May 2018.

[4] "Lei n.º 40/2006 - Lei das precedências do Protocolo do Estado Português" [Law no. 40 of 2006 - Law of the precedences of the Portuguese State Protocol]. Diário da República (in Portuguese). 164/2006: 6185–6190. 25 August 2006 – via Diário da República Eletrónico.

[PDB-5] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Braga, Paulo Drumond (2010). "Os Presidentes da República Portuguesa: sociologia de uma função".

[6] "Lançado o livro sobre "As primeiras damas"" [Published the book about the First Ladies](Video and text). RTP Notícias (in Portuguese). 13 April 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2018.

[7] Fonseca, Catarina Reis da (26 March 2011). "Histórias de quem fez a história de Belém" [Stories of who made Belém's history]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). Retrieved 24 May 2018.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]