Elizabeth "Betsie" Verwoerd (née Schoombee; 17 May 1901 – 29 February 2000) was the spouse of the Prime Minister of South Africa from 2 September 1958 until the assassination of her husband Hendrik Verwoerd on 6 September 1966.

Betsie was of Danish descent and born on 17 May 1901 to Wynand Johannes Schoombee and Anna Francina Susanna Schoombee (née Naude) in Middelburg in the Cape Colony.

Betsie Verwoerd

Betsie met her husband while they both attended Stellenbosch University in the early-1920s. They were married in Hamburg, Germany where Verwoerd was studying on 7 January 1927. The couple returned to South Africa in 1928. They had five sons and two daughters. One of her daughters, Anna, married Carel Boshoff, who later founded the Afrikaner settlement of Orania.

Betsie Verwoerd

Her husband was assassinated on 6 September 1966. Afterwards, she occasionally conducted some official duties such as opening the Hendrik Verwoerd Dam (later renamed Gariep Dam) in 1972.

Betsie Verwoerd

In 1992, she moved to Orania, the Afrikaner settlement founded by her son-in-law. She was visited by the first Black President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, at her home in 1995.

Betsie Verwoerd died at her home on 29 February 2000 at the age of 98. Nelson Mandela expressed his sadness at her death, stating he had been impressed with her "pure Afrikaner hospitality" when he visited her in 1995.

After her death, her house in Orania was converted into a museum. A primary school in Randfontein was previously named in her honour; it was later renamed Laerskool Westgold. A street in Goodwood, Cape Town retains her name.

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1901 births

2000 deaths

Afrikaner people

South African people of Danish descent

Spouses of prime ministers of South Africa

Stellenbosch University alumni

Orania, Northern Cape