Jakov Kitarović
Jakov Kitarović | |
|---|---|
| First Gentleman of Croatia | |
| Assumed office 19 February 2015 | |
| President | Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović |
| Preceded by | Tatjana Josipović |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1968 Rijeka, Yugoslavia (now Croatia) |
| Spouse | Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović (1996–present) |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | University of Zagreb (Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing) University of Rijeka (Faculty of Maritime Studies) |
| Website | Government website |
Jakov Kitarović (born 1968) is the current First Gentleman of Croatia, serving since 19 February 2015. He is the husband of Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, the 4th President of Croatia, who was narrowly elected to office in the January 2015 presidential election, defeating the incumbent President Ivo Josipović. Jakov Kitarović thus succeeded Tatjana Josipović in the role of First Spouse and is the first male holder of the office, as well as the youngest to date, aged 46.
Early life
He was born in Rijeka in 1968 as the son of Ivo Kitarović, a professor at the Faculty of Maritime Sciences of the University of Rijeka.
Kitarović graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing of the University of Zagreb in 1998 and also has a degree in nautics from the Faculty of Maritime Sciences of the University of Rijeka.[1]
Washington, D.C. Croatian embassy controversy
He caused a scandal in 2010 when it was reported that he had been using an official car belonging to the Croatian embassy in Washington, D.C. for private purposes. Namely, a member of the embassy's security staff had followed and filmed him for days, and footage of the events was later posted on YouTube, but was later removed. As a result, Foreign minister Gordan Jandroković launched an internal investigation because of Kitarović's unauthorized usage of the official car and the unauthorized filming of members of the diplomatic staff and their families by a member of the embassy's security staff. The investigation concluded that his wife (later President of Croatia) Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović herself was, despite having an embassy-owned Cadillac DTS (with a driver available to her 24 hours a day), using another embassy car, a Toyota Sienna, for private purposes. Grabar-Kitarović claimed that her duties continue for 24 hours a day and that she cannot separate her working life from her private life. She later paid for all expenses that occurred due to her husband's unauthorized using of the car, while the member of embassy's security staff who had filmed her family was fired.