KOKO Knows: An African Is The Only Woman To Be The First Lady Of Two Nations

Graça Machel is a Mozambican politician and humanitarian. She is the widow of former South African president Nelson Mandela and of Mozambican president Samora Machel – making her the first and only woman in history to have been first lady of two separate republics, serving as the First Lady of Mozambique from 1975 to 1986 and the First Lady of South Africa from 1998 to 1999.30-year-old Graça Machel aka Simbine married Samora Machel, the first President of Mozambique, in 1975. They had two children together but Samora Machel died in a plane crash in South Africa in 1986. Ironically, Graça went on to marry the President of the nation where her husband died. On 18 July 1998, 53-year-old Graça married Nelson Mandela on his 80th birthday who was was serving as the first post-apartheid president of South Africa and remained his wife until his death in 2013.Photo Credit: Getty