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

Prime Minister of Denmark The prime minister of Denmark (, , ) is the head of government in the Kingdom of Denmark comprising the three constituent countries: Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Before the creation of the modern office, the kingdom did not init ...

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 Prime Minister of Denmark from 2009 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2019. He was Leader of the Ve ...

Early life and family

Rasmussen was born Sólrun Jákupsdóttir on 22 November 1968 in

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; ; Danish language, Danish: ''Thorshavn''), 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 th ...

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

. She is the daughter of chief physician Jákup Petersen and lecturer Bergljót av Skarði. Her mother's parents were the Tjóðveldi politician

Sigurð Joensen Jóhan Hendrik Sigurð Joensen (April 27, 1911 – October 1, 1993) was a Faroe Islanders, Faroese lawyer, author, and politician for the Faroese Republic (Faroe Islands), Republican Party (). Joensen was born in Gjógv.Joensen, Sofus et al. 1986 ...

and the writer Sigrið av Skarði, who was the daughter of the Faroese folk educationist and poet

Símun av Skarði Símun av Skarði (3 May 1872 – 9 October 1942) was a Faroese poet, politician, and teacher. Biography Símun was born in the village of Skarð on Kunoy. In 1893, he entered the seminary in Tórshavn, which he graduated from as a teacher i ...

. 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 ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. 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 Margrethe II (; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is a member of the Danish royal family who reigned as Queen of Denmark from 14 January 1972 until her abdication on 14 January 2024. Having reigned for exactly 5 ...

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 Municipality () is a municipality (Danish language, Danish, ''Commune (subnational entity), kommune'') in the Capital Region of Denmark. The municipality covers an area of 278 km2, and has a total population of 41,797. The municipali ...

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 Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

where she met with Liberian President

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ellen Eugenia Johnson Sirleaf (born 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 Monrovia to a Gol ...

as representative for the

Danish Refugee Council Danish Refugee Council (DRC) () is a private Danish humanitarian nonprofit organization, founded in 1956. It serves as an umbrella organization for 33 member organizations. Formed after the Second World War in response to the European refugee c ...

. Following her husband's resumption as Prime Minister in June 2015, Rasmussen took over as

Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

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