Marie-France van Heel is the wife of Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.
The pair met while they were studying at Cambridge university and tied the knot in 2000. Here’s all you need know about Marie-France van Heel.
Who is Andy Burnham’s wife Marie-France van Heel?
Dutch-born Marie-France van Heel is a marketing executive.
She previously worked for BSkyB and her own firm MVH Marketing was dissolved in 2011 after three years in operation. She was the sole director.
She is now the CEO of the London-based firm Heavenly, which has designed logos for clients such as HSBC, England Rugby and the BBC.
The couple met while they were studying at Fitzwilliam College at Cambridge university.
Marie-France, known as Frankie, reportedly had to ask the now mayor of Greater Manchester for permission to appear on the TV series Blind Date. She appeared on the show in January 1992.
She tied the knot with Andy Burnham in 2000.
In 2010, when she was 40, Ms Heel underwent a double mastectomy after a genetic test revealed that she could be at risk from breast cancer.
Ms Heel has 87 Twitter followers and has said some controversial remarks on the social media platform in the past.
In January 2013, she tweeted that former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt looked “bloody awful” on Sky News.
