There have been a number of spouses of the General Secretaries of the Communist Party (Vietnamese: Phu nhân Tổng bí thư) and spouses of the Presidents of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Phu nhân Chủ tịch nước).

These roles were never established or recognized as an official title or office, but their holders often played an important ceremonial role alongside the officeholder. Depending on the prominence of the officeholder and their spouse, the latter may be informally referred to as the First Lady of Vietnam (Vietnamese: Đệ nhất Phu nhân Việt Nam). Ngô Phương Ly has been considered the de facto First Lady of Vietnam since Tô Lâm's election as General Secretary in August 2024.

Spouses of the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam

The highest position in Vietnam's political system is the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the spouse of the officeholder is considered the de facto "First Lady of Vietnam".

The list only includes spouses of General Secretaries who served after the 1951 re-establishment of the Worker's Party of Vietnam (predecessor of the Communist Party of Vietnam), following which it formally became the ruling party of North Vietnam and later reunified Vietnam. No. These numbers are not official.PortraitNameTenure beganTenure endedGeneral Secretary1Nguyễn Thị Minh19 February 19515 October 1956Trường Chinh -Vacant5 October 195610 September 1960Hồ Chí Minh2Lê Thị Sương 10 September 196010 July 1986Lê Duẩn -Nguyễn Thụy Nga(1)Nguyễn Thị Minh14 July 198618 December 1986Trường Chinh3Ngô Thị Huệ18 December 198628 June 1991Nguyễn Văn Linh4Tạ Thị Thanh28 June 199126 December 1997Đỗ Mười5Nguyễn Thị Bích26 December 199722 April 2001Lê Khả Phiêu6Lý Thị Bang22 April 200124 October 2010†Nông Đức Mạnh -Vacant24 October 201019 January 20117Ngô Thị Mân19 January 201119 July 2024Nguyễn Phú Trọng8Ngô Phương Ly3 August 2024IncumbentTô Lâm

Spouses of the Presidents of Vietnam There have been 12 people holding this title since 1969. The current spouse of the president since April 2026 is Ngô Phương Ly, the wife of incumbent President Tô Lâm. The role of the president's spouse is not an official position, and so they are not given a salary or official duties. Nonetheless, the spouse usually participates in humanitarian and charitable work, and accompanies the president in state visits and entertaining foreign leaders. No.PortraitNameTenure beganTenure endedPresident—Vacant2 September 19452 September 1969Hồ Chí Minh—Nguyễn Thị Sắt29 May 194621 October 1946Huỳnh Thúc Kháng1Đoàn Thị Giàu2 September 196925 May 1974†Tôn Đức Thắng—Vacant25 May 19742 July 1976—Vacant2 July 197630 March 1980Tôn Đức Thắng—Dương Thị Chung30 March 19804 July 1981Nguyễn Hữu Thọ2Nguyễn Thị Minh4 July 198118 June 1987Trường Chinh3Phan Thị Nể18 June 198722 September 1992Võ Chí Công4Võ Thị Lê23 September 199224 September 1997Lê Đức Anh5Nguyễn Thị Vinh24 September 199727 June 2006Trần Đức Lương6Trần Thị Kim Chi27 June 200625 July 2011Nguyễn Minh Triết7Mai Thị Hạnh25 July 20112 April 2016Trương Tấn Sang8Nguyễn Thị Hiền2 April 201621 September 2018Trần Đại Quang†—Vacant21 September 201823 October 2018Đặng Thị Ngọc Thịnh9Ngô Thị Mân23 October 20185 April 2021Nguyễn Phú Trọng10Trần Thị Nguyệt Thu5 April 202118 January 2023Nguyễn Xuân Phúc—Vacant18 January 20232 March 2023Võ Thị Ánh Xuân11Phan Thị Thanh Tâm2 March 202321 March 2024Võ Văn Thưởng— Vacant21 March 202422 May 2024Võ Thị Ánh Xuân12Ngô Phương Ly22 May 2024 21 October 2024Tô Lâm13Nguyễn Thị Minh Nguyệt21 October 20247 April 2026Lương Cường14Ngô Phương Ly7 April 2026 IncumbentTô Lâm

Historical

First Lady of South Vietnam The spouse of the President of South Vietnam is informally referred to as the First Lady. No.PortraitNameTenure beganTenure endedPresident1Trần Lệ XuânMadame Nhu26 October 19552 November 1963Ngô Đình Diệm—Vacant2 November 196331 October 1967Military junta2Nguyễn Thị Mai AnhMadame Nguyễn Văn Thiệu31 October 196721 April 1975Nguyễn Văn Thiệu3Lưu Thị TriệuMadame Trần Văn Hương21 April 197528 April 1975Trần Văn Hương—Vacant28 April 197530 April 1975Dương Văn Minh

Second Lady of South Vietnam The spouse of the Vice President of South Vietnam is informally referred to as the Second Lady. No.PortraitNameTenure beganTenure endedVice President—Vacant18 December 19562 November 1963Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ—Vacant2 November 196331 October 1967Military junta1Đặng Tuyết MaiMadame Nguyễn Cao Kỳ31 October 196729 October 1971Nguyễn Cao Kỳ2Lưu Thị TriệuMadame Trần Văn Hương31 October 197121 April 1975Trần Văn Hương—Vacant21 April 197530 April 1975Nguyễn Văn Huyền

Notes

References

See also

List of presidents of Vietnam President of Vietnam :Category:Spouses of Vietnamese presidents