Uptil now, she bears Graça Machel. When she was born on October 17, 1945, she was Graça Simbine. She became a Machel when she married Samora Machel, a former Mozambican politician, revolutionary and president.
She became a widow when Machel died in a plane over South Africa in 1986. Years after, she married her husband's friend, Nelson Mandela. She was his third wife. But she never changed her surname to that of the former South African president.
Graça Machel is the only woman in the world to have been First Lady of two different countries, serving as the First Lady of Mozambique from 1975 to 1986 and the First Lady of South Africa from 1998 to 1999. She is an international advocate for women's and children's rights and in 1997 was made a British dame for her humanitarian work.
Born in rural Incadine, Gaza Province, Mozambique (Portuguese East Africa), she attended Methodist mission schools before gaining a scholarship to attend University of Lisbon in Portugal, where she studied German language and first became involved in independence issues. In that university, she earned a scholarship from Romance Languages. She is also fluent in German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and English, as well as her native Tsonga. She returned to Mozambique in 1973, joined the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO) and became a schoolteacher.
Following Mozambique's independence in 1975, Machel was appointed Minister for Education and Culture. She married Samora Machel the same year. Following her retirement from the Mozambique ministry, Machel was appointed as the expert in charge of producing the groundbreaking United Nations report on the impact of armed conflict on children.
Graça Machel in 1984, with then husband President Samora Machel of Mozambique, and P W Botha and Pik Botha of South Africa, at the signing of the Nkomati Accord.
Machel received the 1995 Nansen Medal from the United Nations in recognition of her longstanding humanitarian work, particularly on behalf of refugee children.
On 18 July 1998, Mandela's 80th birthday, she married South African President Nelson Mandela.
In 1998, she was one of the two winners of the North-South Prize.
Machel serves as the chair of the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA) Eminent Advisory Board.
On 18 July 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nelson Mandela, Graça Machel, and Desmond Tutu convened "The Global Elders, a group of world leaders to contribute their wisdom, leadership and integrity to tackle some of the world's toughest problems. Mandela announced its formation in a speech on his 89th birthday. Tutu served as its initial chair. Other founding members included Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Jimmy Carter, Li Zhaoxing, Mary Robinson and Muhammad Yunus.
The group is funded by a group of donors, including Richard Branson, Peter Gabriel, Ray Chambers, Michael Chambers, Bridgeway Foundation, Pam Omidyar, Humanity United, Amy Robbins, Shashi Ruia, Dick Tarlow and the United Nations Foundation.
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