Marcos, Imelda Romualdez (1930– )

Filipino politician and socialite, wife of Ferdinand Marcos (president 1965–86), and known as the ‘Iron Butterfly’. A politically active first lady, she took a leading role in prestige cultural and social welfare projects and was governor of the National Capital Region, from 1975, and minister of human settlements and ecology, from 1978. Her influence increased during the 1980s, as her husband's health deteriorated, but she became accused of using her public position improperly to amass private wealth.

On her husband's overthrow as president in February 1986 by the ‘People Power’ movement, her enormous collection of shoes, clothes, and art she had amassed was put on display in the Malacanang Palace. She lived in exile with her husband, who died in 1989, but was allowed to return to the Philippines in 1991 as the government sought to recoup an estimated $350 million from frozen Marcos accounts in Swiss banks. She unsuccessfully contested the 1992 and 1998 presidential elections, but was elected to the Philippines House of Representatives in 1995 in her home province of Leyte. In 1993 she was convicted of corruption and sentenced to 18–24 years imprisonment, but remained free on bail pending an appeal; this succeeded in October 1998.

Born into poverty, Imelda began her career as a singer and, with her striking looks, won the title of Miss Manila in 1953. A year later, she married Ferdinand Marcos, who was then a member of the Philippines House of Representative.