Vigdís Finnbogadóttir

Vigdís Finnbogadóttir (; born 15 April 1930) is an Icelandic stateswoman and theatre director who was the fourth president of Iceland, serving from 1980 to 1996, the first woman to hold the position and the first in the world to be democratically elected president of a country. Having served for 16 years, she was also the longest-serving elected female head of state in history. Vigdís is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador and a member of the Club of Madrid.

Early life and career Vigdís was born on 15 April 1930 in Reykjavík. Her father, Finnbogi Rútur Þorvaldsson, was a civil engineer, and her mother, Sigríður Eiríksdóttir, was a nurse who headed the national nurses' association. The following year, her younger brother Þorvaldur was born; he did not survive to adulthood, as he drowned in Hreðavatn. Vigdís enrolled at the University of Grenoble in 1949, later switching to the Sorbonne. She studied English and French literature, giving special emphasis to plays. co-founding a theatre group. She also worked on the translation of several French plays. During her campaign, her anti-military position and her opposition to a United States presence in Iceland led to allegations that she was sympathetic to communism. Vigdís ran for president to prove that women were able to lead political campaigns, and she did not expect to win. She is also a member of the Fondation Chirac's honour committee.

Vigdís continued her peace advocacy after her tenure as president ended. In 2016, she expressed her desire for the United States and Russia to visit Iceland to resolve their differences through discussion as they did during the Reykjavík Summit. She has described the relations between the two countries as a new Cold War.

Honours National honours

Foreign honours

70px Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of St. Olav (1982)

Honorary degrees Université Bordeaux Montaigne, (former Université Bordeaux 3), France (1987) University of Trondheim, Norway (1993)