Ex-chancellor Kohl marries woman 35 years younger

Berlin: Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl has married his partner Maike Richter, an economist who is nearly 35 years his junior.

Kohl's office said yesterday the two had tied the knot last week at a Heidelberg clinic where Kohl is recuperating from a head injury.

The 78-year old's office announced last month he planned to marry Richter, 44, who is on leave from her post in the German Economy Ministry to tend to the former chancellor.

Kohl, a conservative Christian Democrat, was Germany's longest-serving post-war leader, in office from 1982 to 1998. He was a driving force behind German reunification in 1990 and European integration.

Knee surgery

He underwent knee surgery last year and suffered a bad fall earlier this year, which led him to be hospitalised. His late wife Hannelore, who suffered from a rare illness that made her allergic to light, took her own life in 2001.