Alexander Stubb patiently waited for Suzanne to resign – Finland gets such a presidential couple

Alexander Stubb, 55, married Suzanne Innes-Stubb, 54, in England in 1998. The couple have two grown-up children, Emily and Oliver.

Alexander Stubb and Suzanne Innes-Stubb have met each other at university in the city of Bruges in Belgium. Stubb has stated that the university is also called the College of Love, because many EU officials have mated there.

Stubb said To the elections with Tommola – program, that mutual respect, especially in a relationship, has always played a big role.

– In love, it often happens that it starts with a flame, at least in my case. He (Innes-Stubb) doesn’t even remember our first meeting.

The presidential candidate has also recalled the early stages of the relationship in his biography Alex (2017).

– The first morning in the breakfast room, I rub my eyes from the cereal: there is a beautiful woman there! I hit the same table and start talking. Turns out he’s a British lawyer.

At the time, Innes-Stubb was dating her English boyfriend. However, Stubb was patient.

– A couple of months later, I called the father again and told him: “Now that girl no longer has a boyfriend in England. We are together.

– We have always had a very warm friendship. Such a fair relationship of trust. We have always been on the same wavelength. We have a similar sense of humor and a similar background. We are international. We’ve had glue. Neither of us is such a conflict person. We are quite calm and can talk about things. We have many hobbies in common, Stubb describes in his book.

Innes-Stubb, who received Finnish citizenship in 2017, is from Solihull, which is a prosperous city of about 127,000 inhabitants in the central parts of England. Stubb and Innes-Stubb moved to Helsinki in 2009. Innes-Stubb spoke Finnish for the first time in public last October.

– It can be difficult sometimes, but I try to speak more and more Finnish. I like the language, he comments on his Finnish language skills.

The couple’s home language is still English. They have tried to speak Finnish and Swedish as well, but after 29 years nothing seemed to come of it. However, Stubb has come up with a language trick for certain situations.

– If there was some small friction, I would gladly speak in Finnish or Swedish, because then he (Innes-Stubb) could not respond as strongly.

Innes-Stubb has rarely been seen in public before the presidential election campaign. According to him, the campaign is a campaign for the whole family.

– If or when Alex becomes president, it will change my life and that of our children. There are good times and bad times in politics. As a family, we have been able to experience both, he said during the campaign.

Innes-Stubb knew when she agreed to Stubb’s proposal that their life together would be interesting.

– However, I could not imagine that it would become so interesting. It is already a great honor to be the spouse of Finland’s presidential candidate. If Alex becomes president, I will also become a public figure. It’s a huge change for me, I also understand the responsibility it brings, he commented during the election campaign.

Innes-Stubb has said that as the president’s spouse, she would raise the well-being of families and how to bring people together through music and sports as important themes.