First Lady of Portugal

First Lady of Portugal
Primeira-dama de Portugal
Coat of Arms of the Portuguese Republic
Incumbent Vacant since 9 March 2016
Residence	Belém Palace
Term length	5 Years (10 years if the President wins re-election)
Inaugural holder	Lucrécia de Arriaga
Formation	24 August 1911
Website	Presidency of the Portuguese Republic - First Lady (defunct)

First Lady of Portugal (Portuguese: primeira-dama) is the unofficial title attributed to the wife or Partner of the president of Portugal. To date, there has been no first gentleman of Portugal. The position is currently vacant since the first presidential inauguration of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in 2016.

History

The inaugural first lady of Portugal was Lucrécia de Arriaga (1911–1915), wife of the first president of the First Portuguese Republic, Manuel de Arriaga.

Maria Joana Queiroga de Almeida sitting with Elisabeth, Queen of the Belgians in 1920

Maria Joana Queiroga de Almeida, Portugal's first lady from 1919 to 1923 and the wife of President António José de Almeida, was one of the country's first first ladies to take on public, ceremonial roles. She took on a very public role in 1920 as the hostess during the official state visit of Leopold III of Belgium, the then-heir to the Belgian throne, in 1920. By contrast, Almeida's successor, Belmira das Neves, first lady from 1923 to 1925, largely avoided the public spotlight, but played a supporting role to her husband, Manuel Teixeira Gomes, behind the scenes.

Role and duties

The role of the Portuguese president's spouse, be it "First Lady" or "First Gentleman", is not an official office and, as such, they are not given a salary or official duties. The first ladies have played a mere protocol role during official ceremonies and state visits. However, since 1996, under the presidency of Jorge Sampaio, the president's spouse has the right to a workplace and a three-people staff incorporated in the President's Office. In addition, according to the Portuguese State Protocol's order of precedence, the spouse of any high-ranking office holder is given the same rank as theirs, as long as the spouse is also invited to the ceremony.

Since the current president has no spouse and the main candidates in the last presidential election refused to continue with the president's spouse's workplace, the only two first ladies to have used it were Jorge Sampaio and Aníbal Cavaco Silva's wives: Maria José Ritta and Maria Cavaco Silva.

List of first ladies of Portugal

First Portuguese Republic (1910–1926)

Portrait	Name	Terms begins	Term ends	President
	Lucrécia Augusta de Brito de Berredo Furtado de Melo de Arriaga	24 August 1911	26 May 1915	Manuel de Arriaga
	Maria do Carmo Xavier Braga (posthumous title)	29 May 1915	5 October 1915	Teófilo Braga
Vacant
	Elzira Dantas Gonçalves Pereira Machado	5 October 1915	5 December 1917	Bernardino Machado
	Maria dos Prazeres Martins Bessa Pais	27 December 1917	14 December 1918	Sidónio Pais
	Mariana de Santo António Moreira Freire Correia Manuel Torres de Aboim do Canto e Castro	16 December 1918	5 October 1919	João do Canto e Castro
	Maria Joana Morais Perdigão Queiroga de Almeida	5 October 1919	5 October 1923	António José de Almeida
	Belmira das Neves	6 October 1923	11 December 1925	Manuel Teixeira Gomes
	Elzira Dantas Gonçalves Pereira Machado	11 December 1925	31 May 1926	Bernardino Machado

Second Portuguese Republic (1926–1974)

Portrait	Name	Terms begins	Term ends	President
	Maria das Dores Formosinho Vieira Cabeçadas	31 May 1926	19 June 1926	José Mendes Cabeçadas
	Henriqueta Júlia de Mira Godinho Gomes da Costa	19 June 1926	9 July 1926	Manuel Gomes da Costa
	Maria do Carmo Ferreira da Silva Carmona	9 July 1926	18 April 1951	António Óscar Carmona
	Berta da Costa Ribeiro Arthur Craveiro Lopes	21 July 1951	9 July 1958	Francisco Craveiro Lopes
Vacant		9 July 1958	9 August 1958
	Gertrudes Ribeiro da Costa Rodrigues Tomás	9 August 1958	25 April 1974	Américo Tomás

Third Portuguese Republic (1974–Present)

Portrait	Name	Term begins	Term ends	President
	Maria Helena Martins Monteiro de Barros Spínola	15 May 1974	30 September 1974	António de Spínola
	Maria Estela Veloso de Antas Varajão da Costa Gomes	30 September 1974	13 July 1976	Francisco da Costa Gomes
	Maria Manuela Duarte Neto Portugal Ramalho Eanes	14 July 1976	9 March 1986	António Ramalho Eanes
	Maria de Jesus Simões Barroso Soares	9 March 1986	9 March 1996	Mário Soares
	Maria José Rodrigues Ritta	9 March 1996	9 March 2006	Jorge Sampaio
	Maria Alves da Silva Cavaco Silva	9 March 2006	9 March 2016	Aníbal Cavaco Silva
Vacant		9 March 2016	Present	Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa

In popular culture

In 2005, an exhibit on the history of Portugal's first ladies, called Primeiras-Damas da Republica Portuguesa 1910-2005 (Portuguese First Ladies Exhibition 1910-2005), opened at the IADE Cultural Centre in Lisbon. The exhibition, which encompassed two entire floors of the IADE's cultural centre, included documents, clothing, gowns, jewelry, and letters once owned by Portugal's first ladies.

Items on display included former first lady Maria Helena de Barroso Spinola's black evening gown and 1920s-era clothing, fans and furs worn by Maria das Dores Cabeçada, the first lady in 1926. Pieces from Maria José Ritta, who was the first lady at the time of the 2005 exhibition, included lemon yellow Dior-style suit worn during her employment at TAP Portugal during the 1970s, as well as clothing and dresses worn during state visits to Brazil and other nations.

In 2011, journalist Alberta Marques Fernandes published her book As Primeiras-Damas ("The First Ladies") about the wives of the presidents of the Third Portuguese Republic.

See also

• President of Portugal