Christina Rau ( Delius; 30 October 1956) is the widow of Johannes Rau, President of Germany from 1999–2004.

Early life

Rau is the maternal granddaughter of former President Gustav Heinemann. Her father was Eduard Delius (1921–2014), part in a long line of entrepreneurs in the textile industry of the Westphalian city of Bielefeld while her mother was Christa Heinemann (1929–2016), a daughter of the former President. Through her mother, Rau is the niece of theologian Uta Ranke-Heinemann. She attended boarding school in Switzerland (Hochalpines Institut Ftan) and the United Kingdom (Gordonstoun in Scotland, where Prince Andrew was a contemporary). Subsequently, she studied political science, economics and history at the University College of Wales and at King's College London.

Wedding

On 9 August 1982, she married Johannes Rau, 25 years her senior and a long-time friend of the Heinemann family, who was at that time the Prime Minister of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Activities

She was the patron of :

Honours

Foreign Honours