Born to Italian parents in Lusiana, Vicenza (Italy), on December 9, 1946, Sonia met late PM Rajiv Gandhi in England where she was studying. The two got married in 1968. Contemporary history recalls how she cradled Indira Gandhi's body after she was gunned down by her bodyguards, and tried to persuade her husband, who was assassinated in 1991, not to take up the PM post. (Photo | EPS)