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Greece has a new prime minister, taking the helm of the country in one of the most dramatic periods of modern Greek history. To better understand Antonis Samaras’ nature we decided to peek into his private life and see who his mate is, who has been next to him along his challenging political path of 22 years now.

Antonis Samaras met Georgia for the first time during a meeting of New Democracy in the region of Nea Erithrea - a wealthy suburb of Athens on the northern outskirts of the capital. The year was 1989. He was 34 years old - a promising young politician with ambitions. She was 24 years old, a student in engineering and the daughter of the famous industrialist at that time Akis Kritikos.

The father and daughter had gone to hear Samaras’ speech at the open-air cinema Asteras. They were in the back rows and after the meeting, the young politician went down from the rostrum to shake hands with his supporters. When he reached the back rows, he saw Georgia.  He tried to shake hands with her personally, but the crowd and his political commitments did not allow him to devote more attention to her. However, she had deeply impressed him.

Three days after the meeting, Samaras asked the employees in his political office to bring him all the photographs from the event to find out who the mysterious girl was. Once he found her in one of the photographs, he asked his colleagues who that black-haired girl was, but found no answer. He took the photograph home, where his brother Alexandros recognized the father-industrialist.

Once Georgia’s personality was discovered, Samaras found common acquaintances through which he got in touch with her. A month after the fateful meeting of New Democracy, the young politician called Georgia and invited her on a first date. They chose the election meeting of Konstantinos Mitsotakis in Syntagma Square for their first rendezvous and the place of the date was in front of the legendary Grande Bretagne Hotel.

A year later, on 29 May 1990, Antonis and Georgia were married and special guests such as the singer Marinella, the rebetika cult performer George Zabetas and the actor Harry Clint attended the ceremony. A little later, the first child of the young Samaras family - Lena - was born. Their son Konstantinos was born seven years after her. In 2008, Lena graduated from the Athens College where her classmate was Margarita Papandreou - the daughter of former Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou. Currently, Lena is studying engineering like her mother, but at London’s City College.

Familiar persons determine Georgia Samaras as the quiet force behind the new prime minister. She attends almost all of his public appearances and is not afraid to mix with the crowd and stand at the foot of the podium with the other supporters of the party. Secular magazines define her as the opposite of the "woman next door" phenomenon and her classmates from Athens College remember her as a representative of the high society of the school. Greek media state that Mrs. Samaras has always had an aura of first lady and now that her husband has taken perhaps the most important post in Greece at present, she will be a worthy partner of his. Her style is defined as conservative. She prefers classic brands and her makeup is always discreet. She can often be seen dressed in shades of blue and beige, which do not hide the typical Mediterranean female beauty.

A photograph of the new prime minister’s wife in her college years: