Ffion Llywelyn Hague, Lady Hague of Richmond (''

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

'' Jenkins; 21 February 1968) is a Welsh broadcaster, author, former

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

, and wife of Conservative politician

William Hague William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

. Born Ffion Jenkins in Cardiff, she is a native

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

speaker and first became known when she was selected to teach the language to her future husband when he was

Secretary of State for Wales The secretary of state for Wales ( cy, ysgrifennydd gwladol Cymru), also referred to as the Welsh secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Wales Office. The incumbent is a member ...

. She is the younger sister of

Manon Antoniazzi Manon Bonner Antoniazzi (''née'' Jenkins, previously Williams; born 15 April 1965) is a Welsh senior civil servant. Since April 2017 she has occupied the position of Chief Executive and Clerk of the Senedd. Previously she held the position o ...

, who served as the assistant private secretary to

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

and is now

Chief Executive and Clerk of the Senedd {{Short description, Position that relates to the Senedd Chief Executive and Clerk of the Senedd is a position that relates to the Senedd and the Senedd Commission. It was created in February 2007 to reflect the growing powers of the National Asse ...

Early life

She attended

Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf (''Taff Bank Welsh Language Comprehensive School'') is a Welsh-medium coeducational secondary school in Llandaff North, a district in the north of Cardiff, Wales; it is the largest of its kind in the country. Of the ...

, a Welsh-language comprehensive school in Cardiff, and went on to study English at

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship St ...

. After graduating she joined the civil service. She played the

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

in the

National Youth Orchestra of Wales The National Youth Orchestra of Wales (NYOW, cy, Cerddorfa Genedlaethol Ieuenctid Cymru) is the national youth orchestra of Wales, based in Cardiff. Founded in 1945, it is the longest-standing national youth orchestra in the world. Organisat ...

and sang in the National Youth Choir.

Personal life

She met William Hague in 1995, when she became his private secretary at the

Welsh Office The Welsh Office ( cy, Swyddfa Gymreig) was a department in the Government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Wales. It was established in April 1965 to execute government policy in Wales, and was headed by the Secretary of State f ...

. Because of the embarrassment caused by the previous Welsh secretary

John Redwood Sir John Alan Redwood (born 15 June 1951) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wokingham in Berkshire since 1987. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Secretary of State for Wales in the Major government ...

, who was unable to sing the

Welsh national anthem "" () is the official national anthem of Wales. The title, taken from the first words of the song, means "Old Land of My Fathers" in Welsh, usually rendered in English as simply "Land of My Fathers". The words were written by Evan James and ...

, it was decided that his successor should learn the words. They were married on 19 December 1997, at the

Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

, and currently reside in

Richmond, North Yorkshire Richmond is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, and the administrative centre of the district of Richmondshire. Historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire, it is from the county town of Northallerton and situated on t ...

. When her husband was raised to the peerage in 2015 as Baron Hague of Richmond she became The Lady Hague of Richmond. William Hague disclosed in September 2010 that she had suffered a number of miscarriages as they tried to start a family. They do not have any children.

Career

Hague was a director of The

Outward Bound Outward Bound (OB) is an international network of outdoor education organizations that was founded in the United Kingdom by Lawrence Holt and Kurt Hahn in 1941. Today there are organizations, called schools, in over 35 countries which are att ...

Trust from 1 April 2009 until 7 December 2012. She was a director of Hanson Green, an executive recruitment firm from 11 December 2003, until it merged with Directorbank on 1 February 2008. Previously, she had been a director of ''The Voices Foundation'' from 23 September 1998, until she resigned on 12 July 2005. Hague is also a published author best known for her biography of

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...

, entitled ''The Pain and the Privilege: The Women in Lloyd George's Life''. For S4C, she presented the series ''Mamwlad'' (2012), ''Tri Lle'' (2010) and ''Dwy Wraig Lloyd George'' (2009). She has also presented programmes for

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

and

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hague, Ffion 1968 births Living people Welsh biographers People educated at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Welsh civil servants Welsh women in business Welsh-language television presenters Welsh radio presenters BBC Radio 3 presenters BBC Radio 4 presenters Welsh television executives British women radio presenters Spouses of life peers