Felipe VI and Letizia, trip to Angola on Monday 6: this is the Angolan first lady, economist, polyglot and mother of three daughters

The Kings fly to Angola on a three-day trip, from Monday 6 to Wednesday 8 February. They will be accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albares. “We look forward to this first state trip to a Sub-Saharan African country with special enthusiasm,” he said. Philip VI in the traditional official reception to the Diplomatic Corps, which took place on January 25 at the Royal Palace of Madrid. Days later, the head of state awarded, at the proposal of the Government, the Collar of the Order of Civil Merit to the Angolan president, Joao Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço; and the Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit to his wife, Ana Afonso Dias Lourenço, with BOE date of February 1. This is the first lady, that she will host Mrs. Letizia on his first visit to Angola. A strong advocate of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Joao Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço and his wife, Ana Afonso Dias Lourenço, visited Spain in September 2021. Felipe VI and Letizia then offered a lunch in honor of their official trip (top photo, with Covid masks, as required by the sanitary protocol).

At that meal, which he also attended Pedro Sanchezthe head of state made a toast to “the close relations between Spain and Angola” and to “a future of cooperation and progress” (photo below).

Now, the Kings travel to Angola. The 54-year-old president, the son of a nurse and a dressmaker, is the father of six children. His military training took place in the Army of the former Soviet Union, between 1978 and 1982. In this country he graduated in History, which is why he speaks Russian, as well as Portuguese, Spanish and English. He was vice president of the Movimiento Popular de Liberación de Angola (MPLA) until September 2017, when he was appointed president of the Republic of Angola. Lourenço, a lover of reading, chess and horses, practices sports such as karate and soccer. Also, he is technological.

A first lady defender of women as a lever of change

Ana Afonso Dias Lourenço will be the one who acts as Letizia’s hostess on her international agenda since her landing in Luanda, the capital of Angola. The first lady, 57, is an economist. She graduated from the University of Luanda in 1983. Specializing in Macroeconomic Policy from the Management Institute of the World Bank for Economic Development (IDE), in Portugal, she has forged a high-profile professional career in various international organizations. Among other positions, she has been Governor of Angola for the World Bank and the African Development Bank, national coordinator of the FED funds and member of the Government’s Economic Policy Cabinet. He speaks four languages: Portuguese, English, Spanish and French.

Mother of three daughters, she is a firm defender of women, of their strength in the family and in society, and of their entrepreneurial capacity. An area to which she dedicates maximum visibility and that she shares with Letizia. In the words of Dias Lourenço: “When a woman succeeds, the whole community benefits”. It was in a few days, in 2018.