Angela Merkel is considered by Forbes to be The Most Powerful Woman in the World. She has served as Chancellor of Germany since 2005, the first woman in that elected position, and is considered the backbone of the European Union. Merkel will stand down as Chancellor upon conclusion of the current coalition negotiations.
She eschews the trappings of power and lives a simple, quiet life with her second husband, a reclusive chemistry professor (Merkel herself has a doctorate in physical chemistry). “She is modest. She does her own shopping at supermarkets. She lives in the apartment in central Berlin that she occupied before becoming chancellor,” says the Christian Science Monitor.
Angela Merkel has a wicked sense of humor. A sampling of Merkel’s humor: She’s known to mimic the leaders she deals with, from former US President George W. Bush to Russian President Vladimir Putin. When she was once asked to say what Germany, her homeland, evoked in her – clearly a journalistic query to elicit a rare sound bite – she answered, deadpan, “I think of well-sealed German windows.”