On Tuesday, March 14, President William Ruto and First Lady Rachel Ruto welcomed the President of Italy Sergio Mattarella, and Italy’s First Lady Laura Mattarella.
President Mattarella who is in the country on official visit, held talks at State House and later addressed a joint press conference, on bolstering Kenya - Italy bilateral ties.
However, the presence of Laura playing the role a First Lady, raised more questions than answers among Kenyans.
The role of the First Lady is usually reserved for the wife of a sitting president.
However, unbeknownst to many Kenyans, the First Lady of Italy is actually the daughter of the president and not his wife.
Kenyans.co.ke sought to find out why this is the case.
Laura Mattarella is the daughter of Sergio Mattarella. He was married to Marisa Chiazzese until her untimely death in 2012.
They had 3 children together: Bernardo Giorgio, Francesco, and Laura. Laura is the firstborn and only daughter in the family.
When her father became president, Laura sacrificed her career in order to take up the role of First Lady. She took up the role in 2015 when her father became president.
56-year-old Laura is a lawyer by profession who is married to Cosimo Comella. Together they have 3 children.
She accompanies her father on official state functions as she did on the Kenyan trip.
81-year-old Mattarella is currently serving his second 7-year term.
However, Italy is not the first country to have a first lady who is not the spouse of the sitting president.
Other countries that had non-spouses as first ladies include Ireland and the United States of America (USA).
The first person to be referred to as the first lady on a regular basis was USA's first lady Harriet Lane. She was the niece of the fifteenth president of the USA, James Buchanan.
