Papandreou’s Wedding Bells Music to Greeks’ Ears

There hasn’t been this much excitement since Jacqueline Kennedy and Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis tied the knot, as Athens society is being swept up in the wedding today of charismatic Greek politician Andreas Papandreou, 70, and 34-year-old airline hostess Dimitra Liani. “The coming marriage has captivated the country. . . . Prime minister or not, Papandreou still manages to charm the Greek people,” Polyhronis Tsihlakis, a political analyst, told Reuters. Papandreou was voted out as prime minister in a June 18 general election after he became a target of investigations into scandals that include embezzlement from a major bank. The Socialist Party leader also had been making headlines with his three-year affair with Liani. There has been no formal public announcement of the wedding, but Greek newspapers were reporting that the nuptials were to take place in a small church within walking distance of the couple’s luxury villa in the suburb of Ekali. Only a handful of guests had been invited, and the newspapers said none of Papandreou’s four children by American Margaret Chant, whom he divorced two days before the fateful election, were expected to attend.

--Also on the marital front, Louisiana’s former governor, Edwin W. Edwards, 61, has filed for divorce from his wife of 40 years, Elaine, 60. She is moving to New York to pursue a career in television and advertising and he will be practicing law in Louisiana. They have four children, ages 29 to 39. “We have always been good friends, we are now and ever will be,” the three-time governor said in a statement.

--George P. Shultz should be in a fine state with a reported $2-million, two-book deal that will include a retelling of his years as Ronald Reagan’s secretary of state. “I’m trying to make some contribution to understanding the history of the period,” Shultz said from his office at the Hoover Institute in Palo Alto, Calif. “A great deal happened and I expect as I work on this that I will learn a lot and that’s what I enjoy most--learning.” Shultz’s other book will be on statesmanship and will be tied into a PBS special program. A source told the Washington Post that the deal with Scribner’s is worth about $2 million.