France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron celebrates her 70th birthday under tight security today – due to violent protests against President Emmanuel Macron.
A source close to Mrs. Macron said that she was “worried about her personal safety and that of her husband”, and hardly ever left the Elysee Palace in Paris.
Thousands of people are expected to take to the streets of the capital on Thursday to campaign against Macron to raise the retirement age in France from 62 to 64 without a parliamentary vote.
There will also be nationwide strikes, with visitors to the country being told to expect cancellations and delays of flights, trains and buses.
Among the main workers put out of work is Pinemin, who has allowed piles of rubbish to accumulate in major cities and towns including Paris.
France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron (pictured April 12) celebrates her 70th birthday under tight security today – due to violent protests against President Emmanuel Macron
It’s been exactly a month since Macron announced a groundbreaking pension reform, saying he would use a presidential decree to force it on the statute book.
France’s Constitutional Court will rule on the legality of Macron’s new pension law on Friday – escalating tensions today.
In recent days, Madame Macron has witnessed protesters trying to approach Macron – who is 45 and 25 years her junior – including during a visit to the Netherlands, one of which saw him on the ground as he lunged at the president.
The incident occurred when Macron arrived at the University of Amsterdam.
The man was heard shouting ‘Here we are!’ we are here!’ As he headed towards a gathering of people around the French President, before he was caught by security.
Two people were arrested.
It came after a mob set fire to La Rotonde – Macron’s favorite restaurant in Paris – during a rally a week earlier.
Today, there will be about 5,000 police on the streets of the capital, as similar protests are planned across the country.
The source in Paris said Brigitte is very concerned about what is going on.
She used to go for walks in the local parks with her husband, and take their dog Nemo for long walks along the Seine.
“This is impossible now because she has to be heavily guarded inside the Elysee Palace, which is guarded day and night,” he added.
In an interview earlier this year, Madame Macron said: ‘When I’m 70, you’ll hear about it, I’m sure of it. I will not read anything that day.
A source from the Elysee confirmed that she was planning a “low-key celebration” for her historic birthday – April 13th.
The Macron couple got married in 2007, after a long relationship, which began when the lady in the future premiere of the drama taught the young Emmanuel at his school in Amiens, northeastern France.
Then she divorced her first husband, with whom she had three children, to marry Mr. Macron.
Brigitte, who has three children from her previous marriage, has spent decades bringing up the 25-year age difference between her and her husband.
Their marriage was such a sensation when Emmanuel Macron came into the public eye – first as a minister, then as a presidential candidate in 2016 – that many wondered if such an unusual couple could be real.
Although their romance has garnered skeptics since then, public interest in the first rule-bending couple — and references to Brigitte’s age — has never wavered.
French First Lady Brigitte Macron (L) and French President Emmanuel Macron are given a guard of honor as they walk with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Amsterdam Mayor Vimke Halsema (not seen) during a wreath ceremony in Amsterdam on April 11.
La Rotonde restaurant – said to be Macron’s favorite in Paris – burns after being attacked by protesters during the 11th day of work after the government pushed pension reform through parliament without a vote, in Paris on April 6, 2023
Riot police fire tear gas at education workers during a protest to demand a bigger budget for the sector and to reject a new education plan from the government of Bolivian President Luis Arce in La Paz on April 12, 2023.
“Wait until April 13, 2023 when I’ll be 70,” she told S Magazine in January. “I’m sure you’ll hear about it.”
She told the magazine that she never promoted our couple: It’s there but you can’t explain it. Obviously, it’s easier to be in the same age group.
Her office declined to say what she had planned for her historic birthday when contacted by the new AFP.
She once spoke of the danger of appearing like an ornate “vase of flowers” during theatrical shoots and the ceremonial duties of such occasions.
Always the wife of a reluctant politician, she reportedly discouraged her husband from entering public life in the first place and remained notably frosty about his bid for a second term in April last year.
During the 2018 anti-Macron demonstrations by ‘yellow vest’ protesters, lovers of literature and theater were personally targeted, and subjected to derogatory comments by former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his government.
“Did you see my face on election night?” she recently told Le Point magazine, referring to her strong performance as her husband celebrated his victory by another five years in power.
When not representing France abroad, she throws herself into philanthropy at home, supported by a small team that operates from its own space in the presidential palace.
Most of her campaign issues relate to her former career as a teacher — bullying in schools, childhood autism, mental health and social media — but they’re also classic choices.
“In terms of their activities, they are very traditional in their approach,” Robert Schneider, author of a French-language book about the presidents’ wives, “First Ladies,” told AFP.
Born into a well-to-do local family — her father ran a chocolate shop in her hometown of Amiens — Brigitte is widely believed to be more reserved than her husband and has friendly relations with former right-wing President Nicolas Sarkozy.
At first, there were two sides to it: a free woman who had broken social norms (through her marriage) … and the other was traditional: provincial bourgeoisie, Catholic, well-bred, elegantly dressed, voting for the right, Schneider added.
Today it is the second aspect of it that dominates.
Its influence on politics is the subject of endless speculation in France.
They are used extensively to pass messages to her husband’s advisors and allies, and serve as a sounding board for his ideas.
French First Lady Brigitte Macron and Queen Máxima visit Keukenhof, Netherlands, during a French state visit to the country
French President Emmanuel Macron takes part in a wreath-laying ceremony, accompanied by First Lady Brigitte Macron, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, April 11, 2023
As a former drama teacher, Brigitte also takes an interest in Macron’s public speeches and speeches, coaching him in articulation and diction.
“I never grab him to say ‘do this or do that,’ but he always asks me what I think of him, as he does with (chief of staff) Alexis Koehler,” she told Le Monde in 2021. After that, he does whatever he wants.
Naturally talkative, outgoing and sociable, Brigitte struggled to curb her tendency to be blunt and direct in public.
“I care a lot about what I say… because it’s not just about me,” she told TF1 in January. “I would like to have more freedom to speak.”
