Anne Marie Vessel Schlüter

Anne Marie Vessel Schlüter (born 1 May 1949) is a Danish ballet dancer who joined the Royal Danish Ballet in 1965. After retiring from the stage in 1988, she headed the Royal Danish Theatre's ballet school until 2006, maintaining the traditional Danish style of August Bournonville. In 1989 she married Poul Schlüter who served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 1982 to 1993.

Biography Born on 1 May 1949 in Copenhagen, Anne Marie Vessel is the daughter of the ballet dancer Tove Schultz and the ballet director Poul Vessel Christensen. She first performed on the stage of the Royal Theatre when she was just four in the opera Madame Butterfly. She danced her first solo part while still a student in Elsa-Marianne von Rosen's Jomfrukilden. She also undertook study trips to Cannes and Paris.

As a dancer, she performed widely in Bournonville's works, especially Napoli, Blomsterfesten i Genzano, Konservatoriet, Sylfiden, Fjernt fra Danmark and Kermessen i Brügge, but she also took many other leading roles including Swanhilda in Coppélia, Helena in John Neumeier's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Clara in The Nutcracker and both the pupil and the pianist in Flemming Flindt's The Lesson. When she was 36 and Kølpin was 19, she gave birth to Niclas Vessel who is now an actor.

On 21 July 1989 she married Poul Schlüter who was then the Prime Minister of Denmark.