Iceland ushers in Valley-born first lady
Iceland has a new first lady, and she’s from the Ottawa Valley.
Eliza Reid, 40, was ushered in as first lady of Iceland on Sunday after her husband, Gudni Johannesson, 48, was elected as the sixth president of the small Nordic country — the first new president the country has had in 20 years.
Johannesson, a history professor who had never held public office, joined the presidential race in April with a promise to restore the nation’s trust in the political system after demonstrations called for the resignation of the prime minister amid the Panama Papers scandal involving offshore accounts.
Reid, who was born in the Ottawa Valley, met Johannesson when they were both studying history in England. Reid was pursuing her master’s degree at Oxford, and he was working on his doctorate.
“We met at a fundraiser for my husband’s rowing team. All women had to purchase tickets and put them in the men’s cups,” Reid said. The men drew a ticket to see who they’d take on a date.
“I bought 10 tickets and put eight in (Johannesson’s) cup,” she said. “So, I gave fate a little push.”
Reid moved to Iceland with Johannesson in 2003, and they married a year later. The couple has four children — three boys, Duncan, 8, Donald, 6, Saethor, 4, and one girl, Edda, 2.
Reid grew up on a hobby farm near Ashton, a place her parents, Hugh and Allison Reid, still call home.
Reid attended Bell High School in Nepean before leaving the Valley at 18 to study international relations at the University of Toronto.
Her new role as Iceland’s first lady is “all out of the blue,” she said. “You just never know where you’re going to end up.”
The Ottawa-born first lady has worked in Iceland as a writer and editor for many years. She plans to continue with the Iceland Writers Retreat, which she co-founded.
Reid hopes, as first lady, to work on projects that involve immigration and writing.
Johannesson takes office Aug. 1.