An illustrious CV, then, but Frankie – who is described by friends as ‘beautiful, very gentle, and highly intelligent’ – has very little interest in the spotlight, it seems. As Burnham once said: ‘she takes no interest in my day-to-day job whatsoever.’ He told The Sunday Times that her response to him running in Makerfield was ‘probably a two-word answer… probably half joking.’
There might well be a good reason behind her decision to treasure her privacy. Frankie’s sister, Claire, died of breast cancer at the age of 39. One friend of the family told The i Paper that ‘the perspective one gains from a tragedy of this kind … encouraged her to try to avoid the attention that can surround the wives of politicians.’
During Burnham’s first tenure as an MP in 2009, he and his wife met Queen Elizabeth II during the unveiling of a memorial to the Queen Mother on the Mall
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But that is not to say that she holds no political opinions. In one 2023 interview on the blog of a former employer, she was asked What was the last thing that made you laugh out loud?’ Her answer: ‘Rishi Sunak saying he was a big proponent of green policies. When I say “laugh out loud”, please add “in despair” after…’