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

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, Habib Bourguiba, and the inaugural

First Lady of Tunisia First Lady of Tunisia ( ar, سيدة تونس الأولى, French: ''Première dame de Tunisie'') usually refers to the wife of the president of Tunisia. They often play a protocol role at the Carthage Palace and during official visits, though ...

from 1957 to 1961.

Biography

Mathilde Lorrain was born in France in 1890 in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés,

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 p ...

. She married a French

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

, 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 Habib ( ar, حبيب, ''ḥabīb''; ), sometimes written as Habeeb, is an Arabic masculine given name, occasional surname, and honorific, with the meaning "beloved" or "my love", or "darling". It also forms the famous Arabic word ‘''Habibi’'' ...

, was born in April 1927 and they married in August 1927. After independence she converted to Islam 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 Wassila Ben Ammar Bourguiba ( ar, وسيلة بن عمار; April 22, 1912 – June 22, 1999) was the second wife of the former Tunisian president Habib Bourguiba and the First Lady of Tunisia from 1962 until 1986. She was called ''Majda'' (ve ...

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