| Veronica Carstens | |
| Birthname: | Veronica Prior |
| Birth Date: | 18 June 1923 |
| Birth Place: | Bielefeld, Weimar Republic |
| Death Place: | Bonn, Germany |
| Order: | First Lady of Germany |
| President: | Karl Carstens |
| Term Label: | In role |
| Term Start: | 1 July 1979 |
| Term End: | 30 June 1984 |
| Predecessor: | Mildred Scheel |
| Successor: | Marianne von Weizsäcker |
| Spouse: | Karl Carstens (1944–1992, his death) |
| Signature: | SignaturVeronicaCarstens.svg |
Veronica Carstens (born Prior; 18 June 1923 – 25 January 2012) was the wife of the German President Karl Carstens.[1] [2]
She began medical studies in 1941, which she interrupted during the war to work as a nurse. In 1944 she married at Berlin-Tegel Karl Carstens, whom she had met the year before. Temporarily she was a housewife. In 1956 she continued her medical studies, graduating in 1960.
From 1960 to 1968 she worked as a medical assistant and in 1968 she opened her medical practice in Meckenheim near Bonn.
Carstens was by profession a doctor of medicine, and she maintained her practice throughout her husband's tenure as president. She was a strong advocate of naturopathy and homeopathy, and in 1982 the Carstens established the Carstens-Foundation (Carstens-Stiftung) – a major funder of alternative medicine research in Europe.[2] [3] She was an honorary member of the Order of Saint John (Bailiwick of Brandenburg).[4]
She was widowed in 1992. After she had retired from public life in 2009, she lived in a sanitarium in Bonn.