Wife of former Greek prime minister Constantine Mitsotakis passed away in Athens last week at the age of 81.
Marika Mitsotakis (née Giannoukou), born in November 1930 into a wealthy Athenian family, married Constantine who was 12 years her senior in 1953.
Marika Mitsotakis’ husband, Constantine Mitsotakis, was prime minister from 1990-93, after serving in several cabinet positions from the 1950s through the 1980s. Politics also seem to run in the family, with two of the Mitsotakis’ children running for re-election in Parliament last week.
Their daughter, Dora Bakoyannis, is a former mayor of Athens and a former foreign minister, participated in last Sunday’s election at the head of the Democratic Coalition.
Her brother, Kyriakos, the Mitsotakis couple’s only son, was also running for re-election.
Mrs Marika, as she was widely known, was famously opinionated and her cooking skills is said to be the stuff of political urban legend. And while she was for the most part only involved behind the politics scene, she was also known for taking a spot in the limelight from time to time.
In 1991, Mrs Marika gave then industry minister Stavros Dimas a public dressing down during an official trip to what was then the Soviet Union, which led the leader to resign from his position.
She was also famously fiercely devoted to her husband and protective of his reputation. The former first lady created a minor incident during her husband’s first parliamentary appearance as premier, when a lawmaker complained that the prime minister’s wife was making “insolent gestures” toward the socialist bloc.
Marika
Mitsotakis is survived by her 93 year-old husband, four children, 13 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
