Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has died

Created: 03/23/2022, 20:01

Madeleine Albright at the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington.

The former US Secretary of State has died at the age of 84.

© Cliff Owen/FR170079 AP/dpa

Madeleine Albright made her debut on the world political stage under President Bill Clinton - and became a leading voice in US foreign policy.

Now the Democrat has died at the age of 84.

Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has died at the age of 84.

She succumbed to cancer on Wednesday surrounded by family and friends, her family said in a statement shared via Albright's verified Twitter account.

The TV channel CNN reported that Albright's death was also confirmed in an email to employees of a consulting firm she co-founded.

Albright became the US government's ambassador to New York under President Bill Clinton.

She later became the first woman to head the State Department in Washington.

In the process, the Democrat, originally from Eastern Europe whose family had once immigrated to the United States, became a leading voice in US foreign policy in the 20th century.

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Albright was born Marie Jana (known as Madlenka) Korbelova on May 15, 1937 in Prague, the eldest of three children in a Jewish family of diplomats.

After German troops invaded, the family first emigrated to England, where Albright, unaware of her Jewish origins, was raised as a Catholic.

dpa