Their fathers were not classic role models. They held power by force. They imprisoned, tortured and killed their political opponents. They made fortunes by taking state property. But they still wanted to follow in their footsteps ... Who are we talking about?
5. A little dictator from China
Li Na was one of the 12 children of Communist Chinese leader Mao Zedong. Born in 1940, the girl was more fortunate than her siblings. Her father distinguished her, he only paid her attention and showed her love. He also treated her better than some sisters or brothers.
He did not give her up for adoption to anonymous peasants, he did not send her to the USSR, he did not even force her to change her name and surname ... On the contrary:he liked to play with her, often took her in his arms and called her a "doll".
Li Na herself was also a real "daddy's little girl". She was almost morbidly attached to her father. This bond did not diminish with the passage of time. Hearing Mao's remark that at the age of 31 she should get used to living without him, the girl burst into tears. However, she obediently chose a husband for herself. He became ... a servant whom she did not ask for opinion. This marriage did not last long. The uncomfortable spouse was quickly accused of espionage and sent to a distant city.
The career of the beloved daughter of a Chinese leader in the People's Republic of China began with a job in China's largest newspaper:The People's Liberation Army Journal. She was sent there when she was 26 years old. At first she stayed aside, but it soon became clear that she was to rule the magazine. She also quickly showed her true character. She required other employees to stand at attention in front of her. To those who resisted, she said: I would like to shoot you!
Li Na was much more dangerous than it looked. The photos show how she spent time with her father on a walk (1951) and on the beach (1960) (public domain).
In 1967, Li Na became the head of the daily. The current leadership was then imprisoned as part of another purge ordered by Chinese communists. Already at this stage, all attempts to openly oppose the new superior were tantamount to suicide ... And this was only the beginning of her promotions in the Chinese power structure. After the Cultural Revolution ended, Mao's daughter was transferred to the Party's Central Disciplinary Control Commission. She later became secretary of the Beijing party committee.
Until the end of her life, she glorified her bloody father. She was on a retirement pension and attended numerous meetings of Maoist veterans. She died in 2012.
4. The amorous daughter of Papa Doka
Marie-Denise was the favorite daughter of the ruler of Haiti, François Duvalier, known as "Papa Dok". She was strong, well-built and like her father in character. She also had an extremely hot temper. She often changed lovers. When she found a married captain who she particularly liked, she tried to force him to divorce her and marry her ...
The Haitian dictator saw in the strong daughter of his successor in the office of president. Although Duvalier also had a son, Jean-Claude, was sluggish, obese, and reluctant to rule. Meanwhile, Marie-Denise was completely trusted by her father. So as his health deteriorated more and more, she gradually took over his tasks.
Although the president's favorite offspring had no political education and was unaware of his various machinations, she won over her family and all the supporters of the government. The strong character inherited from her father certainly helped her. As early as 1969 it became de facto "Plenipotentiary of the dictator." When Duvalier was asked about some decisions about the state, he would reply: You will ask Denise, now she is in charge .
She herself was willing to use the power that her father had bestowed on her. She emphasized her position by strolling proudly around the presidential palace, dressed in trousers and with two pistols on her hips . But at night she would still put on one of her Parisian gowns and enjoy herself at the Port-au-Prince Hotel.
Papa Doc would much rather hand over power to Marie-Denise than to the sluggish "Baby Dok". Jeana-Claude Duvallier in the photo from 2011 (photo Marcello Casal Jr / ABr, license CC BY 3.0 br).
Ultimately, however, the transfer of power, prepared by the loving father, did not take place. All because ... Marie-Denise was a woman. Haiti is a country dominated by male culture. According to tradition, only a man could become the next leader. There was considerable resistance in Duvalier's entourage against the idea of his daughter taking over the highest position, not his son. The old dictator did not have the strength to impose his will. And when Papa Doc died, power fell into the hands of the sluggish Jean-Claude.
3. An avid supporter of the Chilean dictatorship
The eldest daughter of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, Inés Lucia, was born in 1943. Before her father's coup d'état in September 1973, she was active in the Christian Democracy. However, when General Pinochet took power by force, she became an ardent supporter of his dictatorship and an opponent of all political openness.
Inés Lucia, a rational, cold and calculating person, immediately began to take advantage of the opportunities offered by her father's power. Her husband, a veterinarian by profession, became head of state television. Under his leadership, it became the regime's main center of propaganda.
Pinochet's daughter herself interfered in state affairs without inhibitions. She wrote to her father criticizing officials who had violated her. For example, she was forced to fire the Chilean foreign minister. She blamed him for returning the Pinochet family from an official trip to the Philippines in March 1980. The government there canceled the visit under pressure from the US.
Inés Lucia Pinochet has become one of the hottest supporters of her father's regime. This photo from 1981 shows him admiring the exhibition (photo:Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional, lic. CC BY 3.0 cl).
The brutal repressions against the opponents of her father's regime did not impress Inés Lucia much. She was fully aware of what was happening in the country. In 1976, on the advice of former friends from the Christian Democracy, she visited Villa Grimaldi unofficially in the suburbs of Santiago. It housed the infamous prison in which oppositionists were held, tortured and killed. I knew about prisoners and torture She said years later. But she never protested against them…
Like the rest of the family, Inés Lucia was shocked at the news of the general's defeat in a 1988 plebiscite. Pinochet expected the public's expressed support to consolidate his power. Most of the voters, however, were against his next term as president.
A loving daughter wept over the ingratitude of her countrymen, blaming the US and the Church for the failure. And she stayed with her father until the end. She helped him hide the enormous fortune he had accumulated. Its value was $ 27 million! Inés Lucia opened an account in Miami and deposited millions of dollars into it. When she was accused of tax fraud, she asked ... for political asylum in the US. However, she was deported from there.
Supporting the regime and participating in its crimes did not harm the prudent offspring of the Pinochet family. In 2008, she was elected to the neighborhood council in the upscale part of Santiago - Vitacura, which is a stronghold of the right. She took second place in the elections.
2.Claudia Schiffer North Africa
The daughter of Libya's dictator, Aisha Gaddafi, was dubbed the "Claudia Schiffer of North Africa" by the media because of her exceptional beauty. Born in 1976, the only girl among numerous sons, served in the Libyan army, where she obtained the rank of lieutenant colonel. She became famous for supporting her father's regime and ... passion for shopping in luxury London boutiques . On the occasion of one of her visits to Great Britain, she gave a speech in Hyde Park praising the "fighting for freedom" IRA soldiers.
This was not the only scandal caused by Aisha. In France, she became famous when she enrolled in law studies at the Sorbonne. She didn't stay there for too long. She recognized that the university was poisoned as "the toxins of Western imperialism." Her lecturers added that it would be difficult for her to grant any diploma anyway, because she knew little French ...
Gaddafi's beautiful daughter became famous for supporting her father's regime and… passion for shopping in luxury London boutiques. Pictured here is Gaddafi at the 2009 African Union Summit (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jesse B. Awalt, public domain).
African Claudia Schiffer ended up in law elsewhere. As early as July 2004, she joined a law firm whose most famous client was the overthrown dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. She later defended the Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi who threw a boot at visiting President George W. Bush in December 2014.
Internationally, Miss Gaddafi became active when the bombing of Libya began. Her husband, child and brothers were killed in the air raids. Aisha heavily attacked NATO on the international stage . Her lawyers have filed lawsuits against the Alliance in the courts of France and Belgium.
After her father's regime collapsed, the lawyer fled to Algeria. After the rebels took over Tripoli, only a mermaid-shaped sofa made of gold with the face of the dictator's beloved daughter was found in the Gaddafi estate ...
Meanwhile, Aisha herself in exile gave up fashionable clothes and put on a hijab. She issued a letter asking the Libyans to oppose NATO aggression. She also proclaimed herself the political heir of Gaddafi. She stated that she would avenge her family. She wanted to take command of the Libyan armed forces and form a new secret government. And all indications are that it will soon be on the list of international terrorists ...
Aisha is doing her best to restore the rule established by her father in 1969 in Libya. Postage stamp on the occasion of the thirteenth anniversary of the revolution (photo:Felix O, license CC BY-SA 2.0).
1. The leopard's promotion over the brothers' corpses
Mobutu Sese Seko, longtime leader of Zaire, had a total of 19 or, according to other sources, 22 children with six wives. His favorite, however, was Ngawali Mobutu. The ambitious girl went to study in Switzerland and the USA. She graduated from international relations there and then returned to the country.
Ngawali "happiness" favored. Her older brothers, who were higher in the line for the succession, died at a young age . In this way, she was slowly promoted, and finally took the position of her father's diplomatic adviser and became his closest associate. She held these functions until the fall of the regime in 1997 and the family's flight abroad.
This intelligent and polite woman developed a network of contacts with politicians from many countries who supported the Leopard regime - as her father was called. She also had a good relationship with the gray eminence of Mobutu's entourage:his political and security adviser Edouard Mokolo.
Looking at Mobutu Sese Seko's headgear, it's easy to see why he was called the Leopard. Photo from a visit to the USA in 1983 (photo:Frank Hall, public domain).
Robert Bourgi was also among Ngawala's associates. This French lawyer and lobbyist was a supporter of a strong Paris presence in Africa and an intermediary in many suspicious operations carried out there by the former metropolis. The young student of Zaire's diplomacy also made friends with Catherine Bokassa, wife of dictator Jean-Bedel Bokassa and former Empress of the Central African Empire.
Mobutu's daughter's knack for diplomacy meant that Kinshasa was able to maintain close political cooperation with Washington, Paris and Brussels for a long time. And this despite the lack of democracy, omnipresent corruption, absurd decisions of the dictator and the disastrous economic situation !! However, when she was offered the position of minister or ambassador, Ngawali refused. She preferred to take care of her father's interests informally.
The talented "daddy's daughter" remained the main spokesman for family interests also when the Leopard regime collapsed in 1997 and the dictator himself died in exile. It was she who undertook the tedious negotiations with the new authorities of the country regarding the return of her father's body. She also fought to recover the goods confiscated from her family:real estate in the country, money in accounts frozen in Switzerland and other countries ... Let us add that there was something to fight for. The assets accumulated by Mobutu through corruption and the embezzlement of state funds were estimated at $ 4 billion!
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Not all the daughters of dictators were so uncritical of their father's rule. One of them even escaped to the greatest enemy of her regime and published a book condemning the events she witnessed. It was Svetlana Alliluyeva, the main character of Rosemara Sullivan's touching book, Stalin's Daughter. The unusual and turbulent life of Svetlana Alliluyeva. ”