Saving the best for the last? Meet Akie Abe, the 45-year-old wife of Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe.
So what endears her to us?
In this list we have seen former models, motorbike riders, but here's a new one: Akie was once upon a time a radio jockey (her on-air moniker was Ackey); she learnt the flamenco; and where custom demands her teetotal husband down a saki she has been known to step in gallantly. Plus, as you can see from the left-most image, she is a picture of glamour.
A far cry from the days of the single Junichiro Koizumi, when the distaff side was sorely missing from G-8 summits and other world gatherings. Today Akie revels in the role of first lady, playing it to the hilt.
Image: Akie Abe (extreme left) with Margarida Sousa Uva, wife of European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Cherie Blair (right), wife of British Premier Tony Blair at Hohen Demzin, Germany, on June 7.
Photograph: Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty Images
Also see: 'We are likely to see growing water scarcity'
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