31 Facts About Helle Thorning-Schmidt

Helle Thorning-Schmidt is the first woman to have held each post.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt was elected to replace Mogens Lykketoft as Leader of the Social Democrats after the 2005 parliamentary election, leading her party through the 2007 parliamentary election, which was won by the centre-right alliance, and the 2011 parliamentary election, after which she was appointed Prime Minister by Queen Margrethe II, and the 2015 election.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt holds a degree in political science from the University of Copenhagen and a master's degree from the College of Europe.

Since 2020, Helle Thorning-Schmidt has served as a Co-Chair of the Meta Oversight Board.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt's parents divorced when she was 10 years old.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt studied political science at University of Copenhagen, earning a cand.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt holds a master's degree in European studies specialising in policy and public administration from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, where she studied from 1992 to 1993.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt became a social democrat during her studies in Belgium and joined the Social Democratic Party in 1993.

From 1994 to 1997, Helle Thorning-Schmidt led the secretariat of the Danish delegation of Social Democrats in the European Parliament.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt was elected to the European Parliament as a member of the Party of European Socialists.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt campaigned for the party leadership as a moderate candidate and was elected by the party members on 12 April 2005, ahead of the other candidate, Frank Jensen.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt led the Social Democrats in the 2007 election, in which her party suffered modest losses and was forced into a third term in opposition.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt was against holding a referendum on the European Reform Treaty.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt opposed tax cuts announced by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, instead stating she would like to see more funding for welfare.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt officially began her first term as prime minister on 3 October 2011, after having presented her cabinet to the Queen and having received her official appointment.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt pursued a centrist compromise agenda, building several reforms with support from both sides of the Folketing.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt presided over the successful conclusion of NATO's strike missions in Libya, to which Denmark was a contributor, less than three weeks after taking office.

On 9 August and 12 December 2013, amid tensions between coalition partners, Helle Thorning-Schmidt made cabinet reshuffles.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt led her party into the 2015 general election in which her party increased its share of votes and seats.

In May 2020, Helle Thorning-Schmidt joined the Facebook Oversight Group, established as an independent entity within Facebook, Inc She was appointed as a full board member who as a board have initially adjudicated on deleted Facebook posts in 2021.

Also in 2020, Helle Thorning-Schmidt was appointed by the World Health Organization's Regional Office for Europe to serve as a member of the Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development, chaired by Mario Monti.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt married Welsh politician Stephen Kinnock in 1996, becoming the daughter-in-law of Neil Kinnock, former Leader of the Opposition and leader of the British Labour Party and European Commissioner, and Glenys Kinnock, former British Minister for Europe.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt met her husband while they were both attending the College of Europe.

At the time of her election as Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt lived in Copenhagen with their children, while Kinnock partly resided in Davos, Switzerland, where he worked as a director for the World Economic Forum.

The family have been living in Kilburn, London since Helle Thorning-Schmidt became CEO of Save the Children, whilst spending time at Kinnock's constituency in Port Talbot.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt has campaigned for her husband and for the British Labour Party.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt occasionally goes to church but does not believe in eternal life, salvation, heaven, or hell.

Kinnock had declared that he was not a resident of Denmark and thus not subject to Danish taxes, while at the same time Helle Thorning-Schmidt had declared, in an application for dispensation for Kinnock to own property in Denmark, that he resided in Denmark "every weekend of the year from Friday through to Monday".

Helle Thorning-Schmidt attributed the discrepancy to a "big and sloppy error".

The mistake was corrected by SKAT for the three years from 2006 to 2008, and Helle Thorning-Schmidt paid the amount she had saved due to the error.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt was however not required to pay the amounts saved for the six years from 2000 to 2005, because of the statutory time limit for liability in such cases.