Today Angela Merkel celebrates her 66th birthday. On this occasion, U magazine brought together several women whose influence on politics is indisputable.
Margaret Thatcher
The Iron Lady had iron principles. In 1981, Thatcher returned to the treasury 20 pounds spent on an ironing board bought for personal needs. And so it was in everything: the prime minister rarely changed her decisions and rarely gave in to someone, usually they gave in to her. There are exceptions to this rule, however. When Thatcher and Elizabeth II came to the reception in identical outfits, Thatcher, in order to avoid such embarrassment, offered the queen to coordinate dresses. And I heard an unusual “no” in response. With Elizabeth, it was not easy for her at all.
Otherwise, the prime minister successfully worked out the title of the Iron Lady, demonstrating incredible willpower and rigidity. This did not concern only the subjects. Two weeks before the parliamentary elections in 1979, Thatcher decided that she had to lose weight. By 10 kilos. I came up with a daily diet “eggs-grapefruit-coffee-vegetables-cottage cheese” and achieved my goal. And she even wrote the script of her own funeral herself.
As for the family, Margaret lived with her husband Denis all her life and called him the best and closest person. But Carol’s daughter wrote the opposite in her memoirs, recalling her parents’ house as “a freezer devoid of love.”
Angela Merkel
This discreetly dressed lady, who has been the Chancellor of Germany for 14 years, has been called the most influential person in the world more than once. And in general, Merkel has a wagon and a small cart of such media titles: person of the year according to The New York Times, Time and Financial Times, politician of the year according to Forbes, and so on.
However, the chancellor does not turn up his nose and demonstrates public modesty. “We should never forget about our responsibilities as politicians to our country and its citizens. We must always remain humble in the face of our people,” she says.
After becoming Chancellor, Merkel did not move out of her apartment to another, more pretentious one, and still lives in an ordinary Berlin house. And she goes shopping at the store next door. She has been married for 20 years, she has known her husband for 35 years, but she did not change Merkel’s surname, inherited from her first marriage. The motto of the Angels: In der Ruhe liegt die Kraft — “Strength in tranquility”. Although sometimes calmness can leave her — the chancellor is terribly afraid of dogs.
Indira Gandhi
Formally, Gandhi came into politics for a scam: when Jawaharlal Nehru became prime minister of India in 1947, he made his daughter his assistant. Nehru died in 1962, and in 1966 Indira took the same post as her father – headed the government of the country.
Gandhi acted decisively — carried out reforms, was not afraid to quarrel with political forces and groups, lost and won re-elections. At the same time, she did not forget about her family and children — Indira tried to finish all her main tasks for the day by the time her sons returned from school. Both sons, Sanjay and Rajiv, also became politicians and, like their mother, passed away against their will.
Indira was not careless, but she was not afraid of the threats that came from those dissatisfied with her reforms. “He makes me fat,” she explained her reluctance to wear a bulletproof vest. Indiram (“Mother of India”), as Gandhi was popularly called, died on October 31, 1984 at the hands of Sikhs.
Elizabeth II
The British Queen is probably the only politician in the world who does not have the right to make political decisions. And the only influential world politician removed from real power. This purely English paradox is explained simply — Elizabeth, being the ruler of the country only formally, influences politics indirectly, through a brand called the British monarchy.
How does it work? Here is an example. Last spring, Elizabeth walked in the garden of Buckingham Palace and had a conversation with Sir David Attenborough. The whole thing was filmed for a movie about the queen. In the midst of the conversation, helicopters flew near the palace and drowned out the queen’s voice with their noise.”The noise is like Trump or Obama,” Elizabeth joked. The remark immediately spread through the media, and if it did not interfere with the retired Obama in any way, then it added a minus to Trump’s media reputation.
Hillary Clinton
Hillary has been in politics for several years, she actively promoted her husband’s career growth, then took up arranging her own career. And she achieved great success — she reached the post of head of the State Department, unexpectedly stumbling at the final stage of the presidential elections in 2016. Then the majority of Americans supported Donald Trump and Clinton had to admit defeat. No less unexpected was her decision not to go to the polls in 2020, which in any case will not hurt Hillary’s political weight and reputation.
In 2016, she got into the Guinness Book of Records as the most popular person on the Web, and who knows what the ex-first lady will come up with for herself in the future. Patience and work will grind everything out — it seems that Hillary adheres to this principle, emphasizing patience. It was it that helped her survive the scandal with Monica Lewinsky, numerous reproaches against her for any reason and compromising political opponents.
