Sólrun Jákupsdóttir Løkke Rasmussen (born 22 November 1968) is the wife of the former

Prime Minister of Denmark The prime minister of Denmark ( da, Danmarks statsminister, fo, Forsætisráðharri, kl, Ministeriuneq) is the head of government in the Denmark, Kingdom of Denmark comprising the three Unity of the Realm, constituent countries: Denmark, Gr ...

Lars Løkke Rasmussen Lars Løkke Rasmussen (; born 15 May 1964) is a Danish politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2022. He previously served as the 25th Prime Minister of Denmark from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2019. He was the lead ...

Early life and family

Rasmussen was born Sólrun Jákupsdóttir on 22 November 1968 in

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; lit. "Thor's harbour"), usually locally referred to as simply ''Havn'', is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the ...

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic archipelago, island group and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotlan ...

. She is the daughter of chief physician Jákup Petersen and lecturer Bergljót av Skarði. Her mother's parents were the Tjóðveldi politician Sigurð Joensen and the writer Sigrið av Skarði, who was the daughter of the Faroese folk educationist and poet Símun av Skarði. Rasmussen moved from the Faroe Islands to Denmark to study medicine.* After her marriage to Lars Løkke Rasmussen and the birth of their children, Rasmussen ended her pre-medical training. Rasmussen and her husband have 3 children.

Career

From 1998 to 2005, Rasmussen was a city council member for Græsted-Gilleleje, representing the Venstre Party . Beginning in 2001, Rasmussen studied education at Zahles Seminarian, earning a Teaching Certification in 2005. Since 2005, Rasmussen has taught English, mathematics, physics and natural science at the

Royal Danish Theatre The Royal Danish Theatre (RDT, Danish: ') is both the national Danish performing arts institution and a name used to refer to its old purpose-built venue from 1874 located on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen. The theatre was founded in 1748, first s ...

's Laeseskolen in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. Her husband assumed the position of Prime Minister on April 5, 2009. When he was elected, there was some controversy in the Danish media over Sólrun Løkke Rasmussen's proper title. Rasmussen was sometimes described as "Førstedame" ( First Lady), rather than Statsministerfrue (Wife of the Prime Minister), although Queen Margrethe II as head of state was considered Denmark's official first lady. In 2009, Rasmussen returned to politics and was elected to a council seat in

Gribskov municipality Gribskov Kommune is a municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') in Region Hovedstaden ("Capital Region"). The municipality covers an area of 278 km², and has a total population of 40,850 (1 April 2014). The municipality was created on 1 January 2 ...

for the Venstre Party. In October 2009, she visited

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and southwest. It ...

where she met with Liberian President

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born Ellen Eugenia Johnson, 29 October 1938) is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa. Sirleaf was born in Monr ...

as representative for the Danish Refugee Council. Following her husband's resumption as Prime Minister in June 2015, Rasmussen took over as Chairman of the Løkke Foundation. The foundation, begun in 2012 by Lars Løkke, focuses on providing programs for boys with learning disabilities.

Early life and family

Career

References

Further reading