Margaret Papandreou

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Margaret Papandreou is the second wife of the late Greek Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou.

Margaret Papandreou was born Margaret Chant, in the US, in 1923 and grew up in Elmhurst Illinois. She met the future Prime Minister in 1948 at the University of Minnesota where he was a professor and she was a 25-year old journalism student. A relationship developed between the two despite the fact that Papandreou was still married to his first wife. Eventually, Margaret also married someone else. That marriage ended in divorce as did Papandreou's first marriage and the two of them were married to each other in 1951. The marriage produced four children.

In 1963, Margaret Papandreou followed Andreas to Greece. Her husband became involved in politics as an MP in the Centre Union, a political party founded by George Papandreou, his father. Margaret Papandreou was accused early in her husband's political career of being Bulgarian, a race not very popular with the average Greek.

In 1967 a military Junta overthrew the democratic government of Greece and established a dictatorship. Andreas and Margaret Papandreou were exiled first to Sweden, then to Canada where they stayed until the restoration of democracy in 1974. At that time, Andreas Papandreou returned to Greece to form his own political party - PASOK - breaking with his late father's former political allies. In 1981, he was elected Prime Minister and Margaret became the first lady of Greece. In that capacity she sought to reform much of the social and political life of the average Greek woman which brought her praise from some quarters and stinging criticism from others.

Margaret Papandreou's days as the first lady of Greece came to an abrupt halt when her husband met Olympic Airlines stewardess, Dimitra Liani in 1989. The aged PM divorced Margaret to make the young stewardess his third wife.

Since the divorce, Margaret has appeared on the limelight only when going through her many health problems.