First Lady of Sri Lanka

First Lady of Sri Lanka
Style Madam Sirisena
Residence President's House
Appointer Maithripala Sirisena
Inaugural holder Seelawathie Gopallawa
Formation April 22, 1972 (1972-04-22)
Website First Ladies

The First Lady of Sri Lanka is honorary title bestowed upon the wife of the President of Sri Lanka.[1]

Origins

The office of the President of Sri Lanka was created in 1972 when Sri Lanka became a republic. William Gopallawa who was the Governor-General of Ceylon at the time became the country's inaugural President. His wife, Seelawathie Gopallawa, became the first wife of a President of Sri Lanka. When J. R. Jayewardene became the next president, his wife became known as Lady Elina Jayewardene during and after his presidency.[2] Thereafter during the presidency of Ranasinghe Premadasa, his wife Madam Hema Premadasa as she was referred to took on a very viable role and became a public figure unlike before.[3]

Wimalawathi Kumarihami, the wife of the president D. B. Wijethunge was mentioned as the first lady that the public has never seen. The position of first lady was vacant from 1994 to 2005 during the time that Mrs Chandrika Kumaratunga was president as her husband, film star Vijaya Kumaratunga, was killed in 1987 and she was the first female President of Sri Lanka. Shiranthi Rajapaksa became a very viable role as the first lady to become a public figure during her husband's presidency.

Jayanthi Pushpa Kumari Sirisena is the wife of the seventh and current President of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena.

List

#
Image
First Lady
Birth Marriage
President
(Husband, unless noted)
Tenure began
Age at tenure start Tenure ended Length of retirement
Death Lifespan
1 Seelawathie Gopallawa
(née Rambukwella)
8 March 1928 William Gopallawa 1972 1978
2 Elina Jayewardene
(née Rupasinghe)
15 December 1913 28 February 1935 J. R. Jayewardene 1978 64 years, 51 days 1989 6,893 days 17 November 2007 34,305 days (93 years, 337 days)
3 Hema Premadasa
(née Wickrematunge)
Ranasinghe Premadasa 1989 1993
4 Wimalawathi Kumarihami Dingiri Banda Wijetunga 1993 1994
Vacant
1994 to 2005
5 Shiranthi Rajapaksa
(née Wickramasinghe)
1983 Mahinda Rajapaksa 2005 2015
6 Jayanthi Pushpa Kumari Maithripala Sirisena 2015 Incumbent

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/30/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.