Carmen Iohannis | |
|---|---|
 Iohannis while in Brazil, April 2023 | |
| First Lady of Romania | |
| Assumed role 21 December 2014 | |
| President | Klaus Iohannis |
| Preceded by | Maria Băsescu |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Carmen Georgeta Lăzurcă 2 November 1960 Sibiu, Romanian People's Republic |
| Nationality | Romanian[1] |
| Spouse | |
| Residence(s) | Sibiu (private)[2] Bucharest (official)[3] |
| Occupation | English teacher at Gheorghe Lazăr National College, Sibiu |
Carmen Georgeta Iohannis (née Lăzurcă born 2 November 1960 Latinized as Carmen Johannis) is the wife of Klaus Iohannis, the current President of Romania.[4][5][6] She is an English teacher at the Gheorghe Lazăr National College in Sibiu and married Klaus Iohannis in 1989.[7][8] They have no children. Carmen met her husband when they were both students at the Babeș-Bolyai University. Immediately after graduation, the two were assigned as teachers to Agnita and Sibiu.[9] She was the reason Iohannis chose to stay in Romania when the rest of his family emigrated to Germany in the early 1990s. She is an ethnic Romanian, while her husband is an ethnic German of Transylvanian Saxon descent.[10]
Carmen Iohannis is the descendant of a Romanian Greek-Catholic family from Sântu, a village near Reghin, Mureș County.[11] During the prohibition of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church by the communist authorities, Carmen attended surreptitious services officiated by Archpriest Pompeiu Onofreiu at his home in Șelarilor Street, services which were also attended by Klaus Iohannis.[12]
In a ranking conducted by perfecte.ro, Carmen Iohannis figures among the most stylish wives of world leaders, alongside Queen Letizia of Spain, Kate Middleton, and Queen Rania of Jordan.[13]
Italy: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (5 October 2018)
