Lila Irene Clerides

Cleridou was born in Ahmedabad, British India.[3] Her father, Dr Abraham Solomon Erulkar, was a prominent Indian Jewish medical doctor in Bombay, President of the Medical Council of India, and personal physician to Mahatma Gandhi.[4][5] A supporter of Indian nationalism, Dr Erulkar was a close associate of both Gandhi and Khan Abdul Ghani Khan.[4][6][7]

Cleridou was raised in the Gujarati port city of Surat, as well as Bombay.[5][7] She lived and studied in Bombay until she moved to London when she was 11 years old.[8] Erulkar studied speech at the Royal Academy of Music and became a professional actress.[5][9]

Towards the end of World War II, Cleridou was hired by the BBC World Service in London, where she worked with novelist George Orwell.[1] While working in London, she met her future husband, Cypriot Glafcos Clerides, a law student and gunner for the Royal Air Force (RAF), shortly after the end of the war.[1][2] Clerides had visited BBC's headquarters to see his sister, Chrysanthe, who also worked at the broadcaster.[2] Cleridou met him in the office while he waited to see Chrysanthe.[2] The trio went out to the Vienna Café after work, and Cleridou and Clerides began dating shortly afterwards.[2]

Cleridou once recalled that she went on her first date with Clerides because he was a "craggy youth who had just been released from a concentration camp"[2] (Clerides had been held as a POW in Nazi Germany during World War II). After a few dates, Clerides proposed marriage to Cleridou, who initially turned him down, telling him, "You were a prisoner of war and have seen no women, let's wait a little".[2] However, he persisted and she eventually accepted his proposal.[2] Clerides sent a letter to her father in India to ask his permission to marry Lila.[2] Dr. Erulkar replied to Clerides with a short telegram, but advised that the couple wait one year to marry, according to the account in Clerides' biography.[2] The couple complied to the request.[2]

After waiting one year, the couple married in a civil ceremony held in London in 1947.[2] Cleridou converted to Greek Orthodox Christianity and chose "Irene" as her baptismal name.[2] The couple had one daughter, Katherine (nicknamed Katy), born in 1949, who would serve in the House of Representatives for the Democratic Rally party.[10]

Cleridou became First Lady in 1993. Upon their elevation to President and First Lady, Archbishop Chrysostomos I of Cyprus, the head of the Church of Cyprus, suggested that Clerides and Cleridou have a church wedding,[2] which they did in 1995 at the ages of 76 and 74 respectively.[1]

In February 1997, Clerides and Cleridou undertook an official, six-day state visit to her native India, including Mumbai.[5][8] During her tour, Cleridou explained that India's independence movement helped her understand Cyprus' move towards independence from the United Kingdom.[8] She also spoke of her admiration for India, saying, "I love India. I love the people. I love its history. I was brought up as an Indian and I have to admit that my pride in India is noticed by everybody. I have not changed in that in one iota."[8]

Cleridou suffered from deteriorating health during her later years.[1] She spent several weeks in hospital during the summer of 2007, but was discharged about one week before her death.[1] Cleridou died at her family home in Meneou, just outside Larnaca, on 6 June 2007, at the age of 86.[1] She was survived by her husband, who died in 2013, and daughter, Katherine.[11] She was buried in a family plot in a cemetery in Nicosia.[12]

• List of spouses of national leaders born abroad