Is Canada's new PM the only world leader with a tattoo?

By Vanessa BarfordBBC News Magazine, Washington DC

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau in boxing training in 2012 — Image captionJustin Trudeau took part in a charity boxing match against a Conservative senator in 2012

While some Canadians have been marvelling at the size of Justin Trudeau's election victory - helping the Liberal Party turn a wipeout in 2011 into an overall majority - others have been focusing on the 43-year-old's athletic body and a large tattoo on his left arm. Could he, they ask, be the only major world leader with a tattoo?

The tattooed image of a raven in the style of Haida people indigenous to Canada's Pacific north-west was getting a lot of attention on social media on election night.

"OH that IS a Raven tattoo! This guy seems interesting," tweeted @meg_shuler. "Is Justin Trudeau the first Western leader to have a tattoo?" asked @aveek18 - one of a number of people who wondered this.

"My tattoo is planet Earth inside a Haida raven. The globe I got when I was 23; the Robert Davidson raven for my 40th birthday," the Liberal Party leader tweeted in 2012.

The design was soon on full public view when he fought a charity boxing match against a Conservative senator, Patrick Brazeau, and surprised many by winning.

Prime minister designate Justin Trudeau attends his first official news conference in Ottawa, Ontario — Image captionThe PM-designate says the country has reclaimed its Liberal identity

There seems to be some logic behind the choice of a Haida mythological symbol. The Trudeau family were made honorary members of the Haida tribe in 1976 during the second prime ministerial term of Trudeau's father, Pierre.

The younger Trudeau went on to attend the University of British Columbia. While studying to be a teacher there, his younger brother, Michel, died in an avalanche in 1998.

Trudeau once said the raven was a character "who creates with irreverence a powerful force".

So how unusual is it for a world leader to have a tattoo?

It's difficult to definitely say that no prominent current head of states have tattoos. If they do, they keep them covered up.

Tattoo historian Anna Felicity Friedman says she isn't aware of any. Nor is self-proclaimed tattoo professor Kevin Gannon.

However, there have been plenty of tattooed world leaders in the past.

Russian Tsar Nicholas II had a dragon inscribed on his arm during a visit to Japan in 1891, while King Alexander of Yugoslavia had a large heraldic eagle tattooed over his chest. King Frederick IX of Denmark acquired a number of naval-themed tattoos in the navy.

Winston Churchill making a speech — Image captionWartime PM Winston Churchill had an anchor tattoo on his arm

British Monarchs George V and Edward VII both had a Jerusalem cross tattooed on their arm to mark their pilgrimage to the city, while former UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill had an anchor.

In the US, president Teddy Roosevelt had his family crest tattooed on his chest, while James Polk supposedly had a Chinese character that translated to "eager", and Andrew Jackson was said to have a tomahawk inked on his thigh.

"The interesting thing about Trudeau is he has been very willing to put his tattoo out there in the public eye," says Friedman.

"Trudeau also doesn't seem to be afraid to be a bit edgy."

Tattoo professor Kevin Gannon agrees.

"Being the PM is expected to be a buttoned-down role. But his youthful, new approach was refreshing, and a tattoo can underscore that image," he says.

Image captionA tattooist draws an image on a customers arm at The London International Tattoo Convention

Jump media player

Media player help

Out of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue.

Media captionThe next tattoo for the Prime Minister-designate?

It was a dilemma the former Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt faced in 2008, when an out-of-work artist wrote to him suggesting a chest tattoo in the design of a Viking-style ship and a horseshoe over a shield of fire, and underneath it his wife's name, "Filippa".

Reinfeldt declined the offer. "While the prime minister thinks it is important to reach out to young people," his spokesman said, "he has no plans to get a tattoo."

Michael Atkinson, University of Toronto sociology professor and author of Tattooed: The Sociogenesis of a Body Art, says Conservative Canadians will take Trudeau's tattoo as evidence that he is not ready for the job.

There will also be controversy, he says, "about someone who is not First Nation using First Nation iconography". But others will interpret it as a symbol of inclusivity, he suggests.

"He speaks to a generation of people who are looking for something different in terms of leadership and their sense of self, style, and approach to civic engagement. His tattoo is a good indicator of the man, and what he represents."