The EU officially has a first lady: Amélie Derbaudrenghien Michel, Politico reports.
For weeks, European Council President Charles Michel has declined to say if he and his longtime partner had finally married.
Even asked directly, during his visit to New York for the United Nations General Assembly high-level debate last month, Michel flatly refused to disclose his marital status, saying it was a private matter. He was not wearing a wedding ring.
But Derbaudrenghien Michel has now answered the question — and made her official debut — by inviting other European Council spouses to a “partner event” during this week’s leaders’ summit.
“In the side-lines of the forthcoming European Council, Mrs. Amélie Derbaudrenghien Michel is kindly inviting the partner of the Head of State/Government participating in the European Council, to participate in a partner programme on Thursday 21st October,” according to the invitation, which was sent by an official in the Council’s protocol office, Ragnheidur Roubineau.
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The partners are being offered a guided visit to a David Hockney exhibition at the Bozar Center for Fine Arts, followed by a dinner at the center’s restaurant of the same name, which boasts a Michelin star.
The couple, who have two children, had planned to wed last year, including with a party in France, but were forced to postpone because of coronavirus restrictions. Michel, who is a former Belgian prime minister, also has a son from a previous relationship.
A spokesman for Michel confirmed that they had married “discreetly” over the summer, and held a small celebration for close family and friends but said the president did not wish to disclose further details.
Derbaudrenghien Michel is a career public servant in the Belgian government, and currently works in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.