Republic Day 2026: Who are Antonio Costa and Ursula von der Leyen, this year’s Chief Guests?

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa

New Delhi: We are celebrating our 77th Republic Day today, with the theme ‘150 years of Vande Mataram’. President Droupadi Murmu will preside over the celebrations at Kartavya Path here in New Delhi.

A grand Republic Day parade will be held on Kartavya Path, with approximately 10,000 distinguished guests in attendance. Every year, India invites an international dignitary as the Chief Guest.

Chief Guests
This year, this honour has been bestowed upon the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa.

Ursula von der Leyen
Ursula von der Leyen is a German politician and a gynecologist by profession. She is the first female President of the European Commission. Born in October 1958, von der Leyen spent her early years in Brussels, where her father was a European Commissioner.

Ursula studied in Germany and at the London School of Economics, later earning a doctorate in medicine from Hanover. Republic Day 2026: Security tightened in Delhi-NCR, strict measures at Chilla border

Ursula von der Leyen, a mother of seven, entered politics after the age of 40 and held several key ministries in the government of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She became Germany's first female Defense Minister in 2013 and was appointed President of the European Commission in 2019. She was re-elected to this position in 2024 and will lead the EU Commission until 2029.

António Costa
The 64-year-old António Costa is the President of the European Council. He has a deep connection to India; his grandfather was from Goa. He assumed this position in December 2024 and became the first ethnic minority leader to head the EU's top institution.

Costa served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 2015 to 2024. Costa has always been positive about India and has stated this himself.