Dorrit Moussaieff

Dorrit Moussaieff was born in 1950 in Bukharim quarter

Moussaieff was born in Jerusalem on 12 January 1950 and grew up in the Bukharan Quarter. Her father, Shlomo Moussaieff, came from a Bukharian Jewish family of jewelers, and her mother, Alisa, came from a Jewish family in Austria. Her great-grandfather, Rabbi Shlomo Moussaieff, was among the founders of the Bukharan Quarter.

At 13 she moved with her family to London. She had dyslexia and was taught at home. She speaks English, Hebrew, German, French and Icelandic.

As a child she spent much time in the family jewelry store in London and later became a jewelry designer. Her business ventures included an office building at Canary Wharf and a tourism project in Northern Cyprus. She is a contributing editor of the British magazine Tatler.

Her first marriage, to designer Neil Zarach, ended in divorce. In 2003 she married Iceland's president, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, after an engagement that began in 2000. As First Lady she promoted Icelandic culture, artists and products abroad and raised money for disabled children.

In May 2006 she was detained at Ben Gurion Airport after a dispute over using her British passport, and that year she received Icelandic citizenship. In 2016 leaked documents linked her to offshore companies, and her lawyers said her business was conducted legally.