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Vigdís Finnbogadóttir

President of Iceland from 1980 to 1996

  • 5 min read
  • 4 chapters

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Early life and career

Vigdís was born on 15 April 1930 in Reykjavík. Her father, Finnbogi Rútur Þorvaldsson, was a civil engineer, and her mother, Sigríður Eiríksdóttir, was a nurse who headed the national nurses' association. The following year, her younger brother Þorvaldur was born; he did not survive to adulthood, as he drowned in Hreðavatn. Vigdís enrolled at the University of Grenoble in 1949, later switching to the Sorbonne. She studied English and French literature, giving special emphasis to plays. She graduated in 1953.

Vigdís was married in 1954. The same year, she began acting, co-founding a theatre group. She also worked on the translation of several French plays. She enrolled at the University of Copenhagen in 1957, where she studied theatre history until the following year. She was divorced in 1963. Vigdís participated in the anti-military rallies that took place in the 1960s and 1970s, protesting the United States military presence in Iceland. Vigdís adopted a daughter in 1972, making her the first single woman in Iceland to adopt a child.

Vigdís taught French lessons on television for RÚV beginning in 1972, making her a well known figure throughout the nation. In the same year, she was appointed the artistic director of the Reykjavík Theatre Company. She became a member of the Advisory Committee on Cultural Affairs in the Nordic Countries in 1976, and the organisation's chair in 1978. She continued in all of these positions until she became President of Iceland in 1980. Other jobs she held early in life included her work as a French teacher at several colleges, including at the University of Iceland, and her work as a tour guide with the Icelandic Tourist Bureau in the summers. She eventually became the head of the Icelandic Tourist Bureau.

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