Gayet makes 1st public appearance
As President marked General de Gaulle’s 1940 call to resistance, his partner made a discreet entry into public life
THE partner of François Hollande, Julie Gayet, has made her first official public appearance with the president.
Gayet, an actress and TV presenter who first came to the public’s attention when the story broke in January 2014 of the president’s affair and visits on the back of a scooter, joined Hollande to mark the 75th anniversary of Charles de Gaulle’s call to France.
It is the first time she has appeared at an official function with the president, joining him at a ceremony the Mont-Valérien national memorial site in Hauts-de-Seine.
The media were given no advance warning that she would be joining the president, but Hollande will be keen not to repeat the mistakes of Nicolas Sarkozy whose approval rating plummeted and never recovered after he was pictured travelling to Disneyland and Egypt in the first weeks of his relationship with Carla Bruni.
However while Sarkozy became the first French president to divorce and remarry while in office, Hollande was never married to the First Lady Valérie Trierweiler, who unlike Sarkozy’s ex-wife Cécilia, did not go quietly.
Her vengeful memoire Merci Pour Ce Moment? is in the process of being made into a film.
A spokesman at the Elysée Palace has denied however that there is any ‘strategy’ behind Gayet’s appearance.
Her official capacity at the event was as the grand-daughter of Alain Gayet who was awarded the honour of Compagnon de la Libération.
De Gaulle’s call, for those in France to continue to resist the Nazis on June 18, 1940, despite the surrender of the French government, was broadcast from the BBC headquarters in London.
It marked the beginning of De Gaulle’s ascent from a relatively unknown military figure to become the country’s most important post-war leader.
Photo: Flickr/Georges Biard
