Macron criticised for ‘royal’ 40th birthday bash

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday celebrated his birthday at the iconic chateau of King Francois I, a choice denounced by critics as an example of how he is “cut off from the people”.

Macron, who turns 40 on Thursday, is spending the weekend with his wife Brigitte and extended family at the chateau of Chambord in France’s Loire Valley, local French newspaper La Nouvelle Republique reported.

With its fairy tale facade, elaborately turreted roofline and vast grounds, Chambord is probably the valley’s best- known Renaissance chateau, located about 200km southwest of Paris.

Macron and his family will stay at one of the cottages on the vast estate, French media said, with a birthday gala to be held Saturday evening in one of the castle’s 440 rooms.

The estate has several four-star guest houses which can be rented for € 800 (RM3,875) to € 1,000 per weekend.

The Elysee Palace said Macron and his wife were using private funds to pay for their stay.

But the choice of venue was criticised by several French politicians.

“Why is he celebrating his birthday at Chambord?” asked radical-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon, quoted in the newspaper Le Figaro.

“What a strange idea! I am so republican that everything about royal symbols exasperates me, I find it ridiculous,” he said.

“While the French suffer from taxes, insecurity, immigration, Macron celebrates his 40th birthday at Chambord,” right-wing politician Nicolas DupontAignan said on Twitter.

“Eras go by but the oligarchy remains cut off from the people,” he said. – AFP