Photo: European People's Party / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)

Ursula von der Leyen

ウルズラ・フォン・デア・ライエン　/　うるずら・ふぉん・であ・らいえん

Physician from Belgium

October 8, 1958 (age 67)　・　Ixelles, Belgium

physician
politician
equestrian

My Take

Say what you will about career politicians, but Ursula von der Leyen is genuinely hard to pigeonhole — she trained as a medical doctor at Hannover and Göttingen before pivoting into German federal politics, and somehow that combination of analytical discipline and bureaucratic endurance is exactly what kept her climbing. She spent over a decade in Angela Merkel's cabinet, cycling through some of the toughest ministerial portfolios in Germany, and in 2019 she became the first woman to lead the European Commission — no small thing in an institution not exactly famous for dramatic firsts. She's polarizing, sure: her surveillance-friendly positions earned her Big Brother Awards in 2009 and 2017, which is a genuinely awkward distinction for someone holding that much institutional power. But watching her steer EU pandemic response and navigate the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, you get the sense she thrives precisely when the situation is intractable. Whether you like her politics or not, the woman does not wilt under pressure.

Overview

Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (née Albrecht; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician and physician who has served as President of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding positions in Angela Merkel's cabinet, most recently as Federal Minister for Defence.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1. Profile

Name (English): Ursula von der Leyen
Name (Japanese): ウルズラ・フォン・デア・ライエン
Reading: うるずら・ふぉん・であ・らいえん
Born: October 8, 1958 (age 67)
Zodiac / Chinese zodiac: Libra / Dog
Origin: Ixelles, Belgium
Blood type: Private
Height: 161 cm
Agency: Private
Occupation: physician / politician / equestrian

2. Background

Elementary school: Private
Junior high: Private
High school: Private
University: University of Göttingen

Awards & achievements

2014 language adulterator award
2017 BigBrotherAwards
2009 BigBrotherAwards
Knight Grand Cross of the Order for Merits to Lithuania
2021 language adulterator award
2022 Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 1st class
2022 BBC 100 Women
2022 Time 100

3. Relationships

Spouse: Private
Children: Private
Parents: Private
Siblings: Private

4. Personality

Motto

Private

6. Links

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