Sandra Roelofs is the wife of former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. Biography, personal life

When in 1993 a subject of the Dutch Kingdom Sandra Roelofs met a pretty Georgian student Mikhail Saakashvili, no one could even imagine that in the future she was destined to become the wife of the president of the Caucasian republic. Being the first lady of Georgia, she never openly interfered in politics, but at the same time she was always a reliable support for her husband.

Education and hobbies

Sandra Elizabeth Rulofs was born on December 23, 1968 in the Dutch town of Terneuzen. She is a Flemish by nationality. As a child, Sandra wanted to become a writer. She published her early stories under a false name. She studied at the Institute of Foreign Languages (Brussels) and the International Institute for Human Rights (Strasbourg). By profession - a lawyer and translator. In addition to his native Dutch, he speaks English, German, French, Russian and Georgian. He is fond of playing the piano and flute, he is well versed in painting.

Meeting with Michael and the wedding

The first visit of Sandra Roelofs to Georgia took place before she became acquainted with her husband. After graduation, the girl got a job in the Red Cross and in 1992 she visited Kutaisi with a humanitarian mission, bringing with her 20 kg of garden seeds from the Netherlands. The following year, Rulofs prepared a fatal meeting with a young pretty Georgian. Michael and Sandra met in Strasbourg in the student cafe of the Institute of Human Rights. There the future president of Georgia passed an internship, and the girl attended the courses before working trip to Somalia. Introducing Sandra, Mikheil Saakashvili said that he came from Georgia (the name of his native country sounds like that in English), but not from the one in America. A tall and prominent guy immediately came Rulofs to taste, and she fell in love with him at first sight. Since that time, young people have practically never parted.

A few months after the fateful meeting, Sandra Roelofs flew to New York. The biography of this period of her life is very rich: she combined work in the branch of a large Dutch human rights company and Columbia University and was preparing for a wedding with her chosen one. The marriage of young people was registered on November 17, 1993 in New York. The ceremony was modest, the groom and the bride had ordinary clothes. The newlyweds arrived in Tbilisi, and there was a magnificent wedding there. Sandra and Michael's honeymoon was held in the capital of Ukraine, where the young husband studied at the Faculty of International Relations of the University. Shevchenko in Kiev.

Moving Sandra to Georgia

In 1995, Mikhail Saakashvili first became a father: his wife gave him the first-born Edward. A year later, the happy father brought his young wife and son to Tbilisi. There, a woman took a job at the Dutch Consulate and a branch of the Red Cross Committee. Sandra learned Georgian and quickly adapted to life in her homeland. From 1999 to 2003, she lectured in French at the University of Tbilisi. In 2005 she gave birth to her second son. The boy was called Nikoloz. At the same time she published her autobiographical book, in which she talked about acquaintance with her husband and life in America.

Life in the status of the first lady

After returning to Georgia, Mikhail began to take an active part in the political life of the country. In November 2003, the Rose Revolution took place in Georgia, after which President Shevardnadze resigned. Saakashvili was one of its active organizers. It was on January 25, 2004, that the Georgian people elected their president. Sandra Roelofs became the first lady of the country. From that moment she began to feel the increased attention of the media to her person.

Always elegantly dressed and restrained, Saakashvili's wife liked the Georgians. She did not go into politics, preferring to deal with children and charity. Trying to show her closeness to the people, Sandra went to work as a nurse in the hospital. From time to time, Rulofs recognized Georgia in love, which contributed to raising the authority of her husband. But gradually the society began to be disappointed in Mikhail Saakashvili. A wave of discontent rose in the country when it became known that the first lady with children is resting abroad, spending every day 15 thousand dollars from the state treasury. The confidence in the presidential family began to fall. Various unpleasant rumors about Saakashvili's wife began to appear in the media. Sandra was credited with Jewish descent, filming in porn films, working for the US special services. To refute such statements was difficult, so many people preferred to believe them.

During her husband's presidency, Sandra Roelofs founded the Soho charitable non-governmental foundation, which helps children, disabled people, pensioners and other categories of citizens in need of protection. In 2007, Saakashvili's wife in Kiev received the "Woman of the Third Millennium" award, which was awarded to the most respected ladies of our time.

Departure from Georgia and further destiny

The title of the first lady Sandra wore almost 10 years. November 17, 2013, exactly 2 decades after his wedding with Rulofs, Saakashvili wrote a letter of resignation. After that, the ex-president of Georgia, together with his wife and children, flew to Brussels, and then to the USA. In 2014, several criminal cases were instituted in Saakashvili's home country, and his family's property and bank accounts were seized. After leaving Georgia, Sandra wrote on social networks that she hopes to return to the country in the near future, which became her second home. But while her desire did not come true.

In the summer of 2014 it became known that Rulofs together with his colleagues in the World Health Organization was going to fly with a working visit to Australia on the same Boeing that was shot down in the sky over the Donbass. At the last moment the woman changed her mind and decided to stay in Holland with her son, which saved her life. All her colleagues, flying on a notorious aircraft, were killed. Saakashvili said this on the air of the Ukrainian channel.

Life of Rulofs today

Now the former president of Georgia is trying to make a political career in Ukraine. Sandra is still engaged in social activities and supports the spouse in all his endeavors. In the spring of 2015, the Dutch director I. Smits made a documentary about Rulofs "Being with the President." In it, viewers are presented with the biography, the personal life of Sandra during the period when she was the first lady of the Republic of Georgia. After watching the film, it becomes clear that thanks to this strong-willed and ambitious woman, her husband managed to become president.