Moufida Bourguiba née Mathilde Lorrain ( ar, مفيدة بورقيبة; 24 January 1890 – 15 November 1976) was the first wife of the President of

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba (; ar, الحبيب بورقيبة, al-Ḥabīb Būrqībah; 3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who led the country from 1956 to 1957 as the prime minister of the Kingdom of T ...

, and the inaugural First Lady of Tunisia from 1957 to 1961.

Biography

Mathilde Lorrain was born in France in 1890 in

Saint-Maur-des-Fossés Saint-Maur-des-Fossés () is a commune in Val-de-Marne Val-de-Marne (, "Vale of the Marne") is a department of France located in the Île-de-France region. Named after the river Marne, it is situated in the Grand Paris metropolis to the southea ...

Val-de-Marne Val-de-Marne (, "Vale of the Marne") is a department of France located in the Île-de-France region. Named after the river Marne, it is situated in the Grand Paris metropolis to the southeast of the City of Paris. In 2019, Val-de-Marne had a pop ...

. She married a French officer, Colonel le Fras who was killed at the very end of the First World War on 11 November 1918. She met Habib Bourguiba in 1925 whilst he was studying law at the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

. Their only son, also Habib, was born in April 1927 and they married in August 1927. After independence she converted to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

and took the name "Moufida" on 25 October 1958. Her husband awarded her with a number of honours but she is claimed to have said that she only did things for him and his country. The couple divorced in 1961. She died in Monastir in 1976. Her husband remarried Wassila Ben Ammar.

References

1890 births 1976 deaths First Ladies of Tunisia People from Saint-Maur-des-Fossés French emigrants to Tunisia Tunisian people of French descent Converts to Islam from Christianity French Muslims {{Tunisia-bio-stub