Ursula Von der Leyen

About

Politician and physician most widely known for having become the 13th president of the European Commission in the year 2019. A member of the center-right Christian Democratic Union and its associated union, the European People's Party, she also worked for the German federal government, most notably as a cabinet member and minister of defense under Chancellor Angela Merkel. She has striven for a more assertive foreign policy, fought against human rights violations of ethnic minorities in China, supported same-sex marriage and equal adoption rights, and worked toward ending climate change, among many other causes.

Before Fame

She was born in Belgium to German parents and relocated with her family to Hanover in 1971 when her father was promoted to CEO of the Bahlsen food company. She attended the London School of Economics and the University of Göttingen before earning her medical license, with a specialty in women's health, from the Hannover Medical School in 1980. She later earned a Master of Public Health degree from the same school. 

Trivia

She was ranked at #4 for 2 consecutive years in Forbes' list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women, in both 2019 and 2020. She has been awarded with the 2020 Global Citizen Prize for World Leadership and the Bill Gates & Melinda Gates Foundation Global Goalkeeper Award, in addition to international honors from nations such as Mali, Lithuania, and Ukraine.

Family Life

She is the daughter of Ernst Albrecht, who was widely regarded as one of the first European civil servants. She is the granddaughter of cotton merchant Carl Albrecht and Mary Ladson Robertson, and she descended from several notable historical figures, including some of the first English settlers of the United States. She married fellow physician Heiko von der Leyen in 1986 and they went on to parent 7 children within just 12 years.

Associated With

In January 2020, she discussed various foreign affairs during her meetings with world leaders like U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. In April of 2023, she and French President Emmanuel Macron met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to appeal against China's human rights violations of ethnic minorities like the Uyghurs and Turkic Muslims.