Ambassador Vilardell was born in Madrid in 1947, where she completed a degree in Philosophy and Literature. She was one of the first women to enter the diplomatic service in Spain, in 1973, following the lifting of the ban on recruiting female diplomats during Franco’s regime.
As a diplomat, she was posted to the Spanish embassies in Türkiye, Venezuela, Denmark and Mexico. In 2006, she was appointed Ambassador of Spain to Malta, becoming one of the nine female Ambassadors of Spain at the time.
Ambassador Vilardell is one of Spain's most experienced and knowledgeable diplomats on the Council of Europe, having held the post of Deputy Permanent Representative between 1994 and 1998, and that of Ambassador Permanent Representative between 2007 and 2011, the first and only woman to ever hold this position.
During her term as Ambassador, she was President of the Ministers' Deputies between November 2008 and May 2009, the first and only time that Spain has held the Presidency of the Committee of Ministers since its accession to the Council of Europe in November 1977.
She actively contributed to shape the priorities of the Spanish Presidency, including the improvement of the European Convention on Human Rights system (in particular, the implementation of the measures contained in Protocol No. 14) and the fight against terrorism (organization of the First Consultation of the Parties to the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism in Madrid).
The project “75 women in 75 years of Council of Europe history” is organised by the Delegation of the European Union to the Council of Europe with the Council of Europe and the Permanent Representations of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
