‘Don’t call me First Lady,’ says Macron’s wife, as role scrutinised
THE wife of Emmanuel Macron has broken her silence after the controversy surrounding her role as France’s “First Lady”.
Brigitte Macron’s role will be an informal one, according to her interview with France’s Elle magazine, extracts of which were published yesterday.
“Like all of those before me, I will take on my public role, but the French people will know the resources at my disposal,” she told the magazine.
The French president had to retreat from plans to make his wife’s role official after a public backlash, with 315,000 people signing a petition to block Mrs Macron from having a salary. The move was seen as hypocritical as the government had moved to ban MPS from hiring family members as assistants in an anti-corruption drive. Instead, the government said it would issue a “transparency charter” to clarify the funds and staff that would go towards Mrs Macron’s role.
Mrs Macron, 64, appeared to welcome the development in the interview. “We’ll post my meetings and my commitments on the presidency website, so that the French people know exactly what I’m doing,” she said. “What’s important is that it is clear.” She added that she did not like the title of First Lady in any case.
“I don’t feel like a First Lady. That’s the translation of an American expression, and I don’t like anything about it. “I don’t feel like the ‘first’, or the last, or a lady. I am Brigitte Macron!” Though Mrs Macron is frequently referred to as the First Lady in French and international press, she has no official status under the constitution. Technically, France has never had a First Lady, although the position as the wife of the president is typically a costly one. Valerie Trierweiler, the partner of former president François Hollande, cost the public €400,000 (£364,000) in 2013, public figures show. Mrs Macron is said to have a team of two or three aides, two secretaries, and two security guards.
She also tackled the matter of her unusual relationship with the president – and the fact that she is 25 years older than him. “With Emmanuel, I am very used to extraordinary things happening to me and I always wonder what the next adventure will be. And this has lasted 20 years. When I read about us, I always have the impression I’m reading someone else’s story,” she said. “Our story is so simple. “The only problem with Emmanuel is that he’s younger than me,” she added.