Viktor Orbán Shares the Secret to a Lasting Relationship on ‘Marriage Week’

Pope Leo XIV receives Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (R) and his wife, Anikó Lévai, in a private audience at the Vatican on October 27, 2025

Marriage Week, a campaign started over twenty years ago in England, is held annually around Valentine’s Day to emphasize the value of family life. On this occasion, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán shared the secret to his enduring marriage.

In a Facebook post for Marriage Week, PM Orbán reflected on the occasion. “Marriage Week? I am already married—I have decades of marriage behind me, not just a week. I have been married for almost forty years,” the prime minister said.

When asked about the key to a long-lasting marriage, he said: “So many people, so many recipes. For us, it works that I yield.” He added that he follows a particular piece of advice:

Sometimes peace is more important than being right. You do not always have to be right. That is the basis of our marriage,”

he explained.

Viktor Orbán and his wife, Anikó Lévai, trace their shared history back to the early 1980s, when they were both members of the Bibó István College in Budapest—an intellectual hub that later played a key role in the founding of Fidesz—while also studying at ELTE’s Faculty of Law. After their civil marriage in 1986, their first child, Ráhel, was born three years later. The couple went on to have four more children: Gáspár, Sára, Róza and Flóra. They held a church wedding in 1996. According to official information, they now have six grandchildren.

Anikó Lévai, ambassador of the Hungarian Interchurch Aid and wife of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Photo: MTI/Kovács Attila

Today, Anikó Lévai serves as chair of the editorial committee of the magazine Magyar Konyha (“Hungarian Cuisine”), that is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and is ambassador of the Hungarian Interchurch Aid.

Most Hungarians Think Marriage Is the Most Ideal Form of Relationship