Karolina Kaczorowska, the wife of Ryszard Kaczorowski, the last President of the Republic of Poland in Exile, was buried in the Warsaw Temple of Divine Providence in the presence of Polish President Andrzej Duda and his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda. The funeral ceremonies were chaired by the Metropolitan of Warsaw, Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz.

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“Madam President, First Lady of a free, independent, sovereign Republic, thank you for your beautiful life, for your beautiful service to Poland, Poles, for our homeland, rest in peace,” President Andrzej Duda said in his speech. 

“Despite the fact that we are all sad because she passed away, I would like to emphasise that I accept with great joy that today she is here, that she came here and will stay here, so that Poles can come and pay tribute to her […] and her husband for their beautiful lives, for their beautiful service to Poland […]” he added. 

Karolina Kaczorowska was born in 1930 in Stanisławów (now Ivano-Frankivsk in Ukraine). After the Soviet army had seized the Eastern Borderlands of the Second Polish Republic in 1940, she and her family were deported to Siberia. She left the Soviet Union with the Anders Army, whose soldiers were her father, brother, and future husband, Ryszard Kaczorowski.

She arrived in Great Britain with her family. There, she got involved in the activities of the émigré scouts and other Polish social organisations. In 1952, she married Ryszard Kaczorowski, who later became the last President of the Republic of Poland in exile. For a year and a half, she served as First Lady at his side.

In December 1990, together with her husband, she came to Poland for the ceremony of handing over the insignia of power to the newly elected president-elect Lech Wałęsa. In the following years, she accompanied her husband on numerous trips to Poland and centres of Polish emigration around the world.

The widow of President Ryszard Kaczorowski, who died in the 2010 Smolensk plane crash, died on the 21st of August 2021 in London. You can read more about it in our article The First Lady of Polish London – Karolina Kaczorowska, passed away aged 90.

Image: Twitter @prezydentpl

Author: Sebastien Meuwissen