Marie-France van Heel, Dutch-born, raised in Belgium and known as Frankie, was said to be "the coolest girl in college" when she met fellow undergraduate Andy Burnham at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.
When asked what his favourite thing about his time at university was, the soon-to-be prime minister once joked in an interview: "I need to say meeting my future wife there."
The year was 1989. Born in January 1970, the same month as Mr Burnham, Ms Van Heel was in her first year, he was in his second, studying English literature.
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His former lecturer has claimed other students thought he had "scooped the pools" when they began dating.
Was it love at first sight, though? Although they'd started dating, in the early days of their relationship she asked if she could go on Cilla Black's TV dating show Blind Date. Surprisingly, he agreed.
And in 1992, wearing flares, a bottle green jacket and a yellow headband over her bobbed blonde hair, she appeared on the hit ITV show. She chose Will Harris, from Surrey, to be her date on a holiday to Gibraltar.
Mr Burnham has since admitted that he watched the show from behind a sofa. But, fortunately for the future PM, the TV couple didn't hit it off, and she was quickly reunited with the young Cambridge undergraduate.
Years later, when he'd become MP for Leigh in Greater Manchester, they were in parliament's Strangers' Bar when Mr Harris walked in and announced he'd become marketing director for the Conservative Party.
The couple had their first child, Jimmy, in March 2000. He has said that spurred them on to get married, after years of living together.
"I think marriage is better for kids," Mr Burnham, a Roman Catholic, said in 2007.
"I'm a bit old fashioned on these matters, although I have to admit that Jimmy, my eldest son, was at our wedding, so I'm only old fashioned up to a point.
"When my wife got pregnant for the first time, it was a complete shock. My first thought was, 'oh my God, we'll have to get married'."
Their daughters, Rosie and Annie, were born a few years later, and the whole family was in the front row for Mr Burnham's coronation at the TUC's Congress House in London. He gave his wife a big hug and a kiss when his victory was announced.
His coronation was third time lucky for Mr Burnham. He previously stood for leader in 2010, when Ed Miliband won, and he was runner-up to Jeremy Corbyn in 2015.
During the 2010 contest, Ms van Heel underwent a double mastectomy after discovering she carried the gene for breast cancer when her sister Claire died from the disease aged just 39.
"The decision was liberating rather than depressing, because it's lifted the cloud of fear," Mr Burnham said at the time. "She did what she did because she'd seen the devastation breast cancer had caused to her sisters and mother.
"We more than most know what could have happened and we had to find a way to get beyond it."
As a result, she has been a donor to Cancer Research UK, often participating in the charity's Race for Life. She's a board member for Plan International, a humanitarian organisation, working with Great Ormond Street Hospital, Marie Curie, and The Alzheimer's Society.
Throughout her husband's ascent to the top job in politics, via ministerial jobs for Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and the Greater Manchester mayoralty, she has had a highly successful business career.
Ms Van Heel speaks three languages, and worked in marketing for Sky and the BBC, where she was also involved in logo designs. She's said to have helped design her husband's iconic cartoon election posters in Makerfield.
She's currently chief marketing officer of Iduna, a company which owns large parts of Manchester's electric vehicle charging network. The Conservatives complained she didn't declare her company shares.
But, as mayor, Mr Burnham said he declared his wife's job, and took no part in decisions about Iduna, and any linked infrastructure, to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest.
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The Greater Manchester Combined Authority confirmed he was given legal advice that no further declaration was necessary because he had already declared his wife as an employee.
"We are satisfied that the mayor has met his legal obligations to register disclosable pecuniary interests," a spokesperson for the authority said.
Ms Van Heel is politically active, but not in a public or showy way. Unlike many previous prime ministerial spouses, she did not join her husband on the stage at the end of his victory speech.
They were, however, seen leaving the hall together, arm in arm. Next time she's seen in public with her husband, it is likely to be on the steps of 10 Downing Street on Monday.
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