This chapter discusses the role of Imelda Marcos in the diplomatic practice and foreign policy of the government of Ferdinand Marcos. At the outset, Imelda is cast not only as a First Lady but as a vital colleague and co-operator in running the affairs of the Philippine state from the 1960s through the 1980s, the other half of the so-called conjugal dictatorship. At one point in time, she was simultaneously governor of Metro Manila, Minister of Human Settlements, member of the Interim Parliament, and Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary. This being said, her status as First Lady and Patroness of the Arts is not dismissed as mere tangent or appendage; it was as First Lady that Imelda became a compelling presence in the political theatre. The combination of her beauty and her charisma formed a particular aesthetic that inevitably evolved into a policy of culture and democracy so central in the formation of a post-independence nation-state in Southeast Asia.

The chapter looks at Clementine Churchill’s often neglected position as her husband’s closest advisor and greatest influence. It begins by recounting the attributes she brought to the role, including championing the role of women in wartime and offering personal ‘protection’ to Winston at times of great stress, such as the eve of the D-Day landings. Her role as a British ‘First Lady’ is explored; attending key wartime conferences, editing and rehearsing Churchill’s speeches, and managing high-level international diplomacy with de Gaulle, Roosevelt and Stalin. However, her most important role was in managing Winston, monitoring her husband’s behaviour and restraining him when the need arose. It was a role that absorbed almost all of her energy and time, leaving her little of either for herself or her family.