Helle Thorning-Schmidt

Helle Thorning-Schmidt (born 14 December 1966) is a Danish politician. She is the leader of the Danish Social Democrats and is the first female Prime Minister of Denmark.^[1] She left the government in 2015.

Helle Thorning-Schmidt
Thorning-Schmidt in 2024
Prime Minister of Denmark
In office 3 October 2011 – 28 June 2015
Monarch	Margrethe II
Deputy	Margrethe Vestager
Preceded by	Lars Løkke Rasmussen
Succeeded by	Lars Løkke Rasmussen
Personal details
Born	(1966-12-14) 14 December 1966 (age 58) Rødovre, Denmark
Nationality	Danish
Political party	Social Democrats
Spouse(s)	Stephen Kinnock (1996–present)
Children	2 daughters
Alma mater	University of Copenhagen College of Europe
Signature

Early life and education

Helle Thorning-Schmidt was born in Rødovre to Holger Thorning-Schmidt and his wife Grete. Thorning-Schmidt's father was a lecturer in mathematics and national economics at the University of Copenhagen. Her parents were both politically conservative^[2] and she grew up in the Copenhagen suburb of Ishøj.

As Prime Minister

She was elected to Prime Minister of Denmark on September 15, 2011, and her government took over at October 3, 2011, from the liberal Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

She formed the government with the Social Liberal Party (Det Radikale Venstre) and the Socialist People's Party (Socialistisk Folkeparti). Together they had 77 seats, and with the support of their parliamentary basis, Unity (Enhedslisten), obtain the 89 seats. Furthermore, she has the support of the North Atlantic - two seats from Greenland and one from the Faroe Islands.^[3]

Personal life

She is married to Stephen Kinnock, only son of British politician Neil Kinnock.