Van Heel, known as Frankie, is a marketing executive who has been in a relationship with Burnham since their university days.

Marie-France van Heel steps into No 10 for the first time since her husband became prime minister She was described as the "coolest girl in college" when she first started dating Andy Burnham. More than three decades later, Marie-France van Heel has walked into Downing Street alongside her husband to take on one of the most powerful unofficial roles in government - the prime minister's spouse. Burnham has replaced Sir Keir Starmer in No 10, and he met Dutch-born van Heel, known as Frankie, when she started studying at Fitzwilliam College at the University of Cambridge in 1989. He was in his second year of an English Literature degree, and Burnham's former lecturer, John Mullan, wrote in the Times that other students thought he had scooped the pools when they began dating. Van Heel was born in January 1970, the same month as Burnham, and grew up in the Netherlands and Belgium before moving to the UK. Although they started dating at university, van Heel had a surprising request in the early days of their relationship, when she asked Burnham if she could go on Cilla Black's TV dating show Blind Date - and he agreed. So in 1992, wearing flares, a bottle green jacket and a yellow headband over her bobbed blonde hair, van Heel appeared on the hit ITV programme.