Graça Machel is the only person to have been first lady of two different countries.

Graça Machel was married to Samora Machel, the first President of Mozambique, until his death in a plane crash in 1986. In 1998 she married Nelson Mandela, then President of South Africa, becoming that country’s first lady as well — the only woman known to have held the role in two nations.

A longtime campaigner for women’s and children’s rights, and particularly for the protection of children in armed conflict, she was appointed an honorary Dame of the British Empire in 1997 for her humanitarian work.