The First Hubby?

Factual Questions
1

The wife of a president is called the First Lady.

If the United States had a female president (and IMHO it’s about time, although Hillary may not be my first choice), what would her husband be called?

The First Man? Nah.

The First Husband? “Well, he may be the First Husband, but he’s actually my second husband!” Again, no.

Is there any consensus on what the title should be?

A related question. A recent thread established that a former president is always addressed as “Mr. President”. What do you call the wife of a former president, “Former First Lady”?

2

He would be known as the First Gentleman, that being the male equivalent.

3

We refer to the husband of a Queen (eg Princes Albert and Phillip) as a “Consort”. That has a nice ring to it.

4

And what would the female president be called? Mrs. President? Miss President (sounds like a beauty contest winner…)?

5

“Madam President” most likely.

6

I’m sure there must have been any number of fictional works that feature a female president (and her husband). How did they deal with the problem?

7

Better yet, what about other countries that actually have or had female presidents?

For example, Ireland had Mary Robinson (now UN Human Rights Commissioner) as its president a couple of years ago. What title was given to her partner?

8

Well…

We (UK) have had a female Prime Minister and she was usually addressed as “Prime Minister” or “Mrs Thatcher”.

9

And her husband (Dennis, was it?) Just Mr Thatcher?

Does Britain have a tradition of calling the Prime Minister’s wife “First Lady”, or is it (as I suspect) an American thing?

10

At the time, just plain ‘Mr. Thatcher’. (He was widely referred to as ‘Denis’, occasionally to suggest affection in a way that ‘Maggie’ was never meant to.)

And, yes, ‘First Lady’ is an American thing.

11

When a woman becomes president, she will almost certainly be referred to as “Madam President”; that’s the form of addressed for female Cabinet secretaries.

I agree that First Gentleman has a nice ring to it and is also the proper analogue to First Lady. I’ve read sci-fi books in which this was the term of address. (The one that sticks out is “The Coming of the Quantum Cats,” an alternate-universes tale. In one Universe, Nancy Reagan has become president.)

–Cliffy

12

There’s no point trying to argue by analogy with other countries, since almost all other countries than the U.S. consider the family of the President (or Prime Minister) to not be public figures. Not only do they not have a title like First Lady, in general the spouse of the leader is so little publicized that most citizens of the country don’t know this person’s name. There’s been a thread about this before. Do a search in this forum on “First Lady”.