Image Name: | Chadlia Caid Essebsi.jpg |
Caption: | Chadlia Saïda Farhat during the 1950s |
Office: | First Lady of Tunisia |
Term Start: | 31 December 2014 |
Term End: | 25 July 2019 |
Predecessor: | Béatrix Marzouki |
Successor: | Siren Ennaceur |
President: | Beji Caid Essebsi |
Birth Name: | Chadlia Saïda Farhat |
Birth Date: | 1 August 1937 |
Birth Place: | Tunis, Tunisia |
Death Place: | Tunis, Tunisia |
Children: | 4 |
Chadlia Saïda Farhat Essebsi (Arabic: شاذلية سعيدة فرحات السبسي; 1 August 1937 – 15 September 2019) was the First Lady of Tunisia (2014–2019) as the wife of President Beji Caid Essebsi.[1] [2] She was Tunisia's fifth first lady, as well as the second, following the Tunisian Revolution.[1]
Farhat was born on 1 August, 1936.[1] She married Beji Caid Essebsi, a lawyer and politician eleven years her senior, on 8 February, 1958.[3] The couple had four children: two daughters- Amel and Salwa, and two sons- Mohamed Hafedh and Khélil.[1]
Farhat Essebsi became First Lady of Tunisia on 31 December, 2014 upon the inauguration of her husband as president. She reportedly disliked the idea of moving to Carthage Palace, the official Presidential Palace, as it was at a distance from her family.[1] As first lady, she assumed a higher profile, both in public and behind-the-scenes, than her immediate predecessor, first lady .[2] [4] [5]
Farhat Essebsi died of a heart attack on 15 September, 2019, aged 83, less than two months after her husband, and on the same day a national election to determine President Essebsi's permanent successor, was held.[6]