Veronica Somare

Veronica Somare ( Kaiap; born 1946), known as Lady Somare, is the wife of Sir Michael Somare, the country's first prime minister of Papua New Guinea who is known as the "father of the nation." Veronica Somare has been honoured for her own role in the establishment of Papua New Guinea and her position as the country's inaugural spouse of the prime minister.

Biography Somare was born Veronica Kaiap in 1946, as a member of the Mindamot lineage. Somare's father was Mathew Kaiap and she is one of eleven siblings.

in 1965, at age 19, she married Michael Somare. The couple had met that year in Wewak, and Michael was immediately taken with Veronica, courting her quickly in "the village fashion." They had five children together: Betha, Sana, Arthur, Michael, and Dulciana. After the former prime minister's death, Prime Minister James Marape described Veronica as the "steadying hands that steadied our late Grand Chief."

In 2008, she was awarded the Order of Logohu for her contributions to Papua New Guinea.

While Somare's primary focus has been supporting her family throughout her husband's prominent career, she is also deeply interested in the cultivation of orchids. In 1981, an orchid commonly known as the Sepik Blue was formally named dendrobium Veronica Somare. She has also been involved in various philanthropic and development efforts, including the country's microfinance bank for women.