Veronica Carstens

Veronica Carstens (born Prior; 18 June 1923 – 25 January 2012) was the wife of the German President Karl Carstens.^[1][2]

Veronica Carstens
Veronica with Karl Carstens, 1949
First Lady of Germany
In role 1 July 1979 – 30 June 1984
President	Karl Carstens
Preceded by	Mildred Scheel
Succeeded by	Marianne von Weizsäcker
Personal details
Born	Veronica Prior (1923-06-18)18 June 1923 Bielefeld, Weimar Republic
Died	25 January 2012(2012-01-25) (aged 88) Bonn, Germany
Spouse	Karl Carstens (1944–1992, his death)
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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.