France’s first lady Brigitte Macron will celebrate her 70th birthday ‘under tight security’ today and is ‘worried for her safety’, source claims amid furious protests over her 45-year-old husband’s pension reforms
- Thousands expected on streets of Paris on Thursday against pension reform
- President has angered many over his plans to raise pension age from 62 to 64
France’s first lady Brigitte Macron will be celebrating her 70th birthday under tight security today – because of violent protests against President Emmanuel Macron.
A source close to Madame Macron said that she was ‘worried for her own safety and that of her husband,’ and now hardly ever leaves the Elysee Palace in Paris.
Thousands are expected on the streets of the capital on Thursday to campaign against Mr Macron pushing up France’s retirement age from 62 to 64 without a parliamentary vote.
There will also be nationwide strikes, with visitors to the country told to expect flight, train and bus cancellations and delays.
Key workers who have stopped working include binmen, who have allowed piles of rubbish to pile up in major cities and towns including Paris.
France’s first lady Brigitte Macron (pictured April 12) will be celebrating her 70th birthday under tight security today – because of violent protests against President Emmanuel Macron
It is exactly a month since Mr Macron announced his flagship retirement reform, saying he would use a presidential decree to force it on to the statute book.
France’s Constitutional Court will rule on the legality of Mr Macron’s new pensions legislation on Friday – so heightening today’s tensions.
In recent days, Madame Macron has seen demonstrators trying to get close to Mr Macron – who at 45 is 25 years her junior – including during a visit to Holland, which saw one tackled to the ground as he sprinted towards the president.
The incident occurred as Macron arrived at the University of Amsterdam.
The man was heard to shout ‘We are here! We are here!’ as he charged towards a gathering of people around the French president, before security grabbed him.
Two people were arrested.
This came after a mob set fire to La Rotonde – the Macron’s favourite Paris restaurant – during a march a week ago.
Today some 5000 police will be on the streets of the capital, as similar protests are planned across the country.
‘Brigitte is extremely concerned by what is going on,’ said the Paris source.
‘She used to go for walks in local parks with her husband, and take their dog Nemo for long walks along the Seine.
‘This is now impossible, because she has to under tight security inside the Elysee Palace, which is guarded night and day.’
In an interview earlier this year, Madame Macron said: ‘When I turn 70, you will hear about it, I’m sure. I won’t read anything that day’.
An Elysee source confirmed she was planning ‘a low key celebration’ for her landmark birthday – April 13.
The Macrons married in 2007, following a long relationship, which started when the future premiere dame taught the young Emmanuelle drama at his school in Amiens, northeast France.
She later divorced her first husband, with whom she had three children, so as to marry Mr Macron.
Brigitte, who has three children from her previous marriage, has spent decades being reminded of the 25-year age gap between her and her husband.
Their marriage was a sensation when Emmanuel Macron emerged in the public eye – first as a minister, then as a presidential candidate in 2016 – with many questioning whether such an unusual couple could be authentic.
Though their affectionate relationship has since won over sceptics, public interest in the norm-bending first couple – and references to Brigitte’s age – never let up.
Frence’s first lady Brigitte Macron (left) and French President Emmanuel Macron are given a guard of honour as they walk with Dutch PM Mark Rutte and Amsterdam’s mayor Femke Halsema (not seen) during a wreath lying ceremony in Amsterdam on April 11
La Rotonde restaurant – said to be Mr Macron’s favourite in Paris – burns after being attacked by protesters during the 11th day of action after the government pushed a pensions reform through parliament without a vote, in Paris on April 6, 2023
Riot police fire tear gas at education workers during a protest demanding a bigger budget for the sector and rejecting a new education plan from Bolivian President Luis Arce’s government in La Paz on April 12, 2023
‘Wait for April 13, 2023 when I’m going to be 70,’ she told women’s lifestyle magazine S in January with barely disguised dread about the coming flood of news articles about her age and cirthday. ‘You’re going to hear about it, I’m sure.’
She told the magazine that she has ‘never promoted our couple: it exists but you can’t explain it. Obviously it’s easier to be in the same age range,’ she added.
Her office declined to say what she had planned for her landmark birthday when contacted by AFP new agency.
She once spoke about the risk of appearing like a decorative ‘vase of flowers’ during the staged photo ops and ceremonial duties of such occasions.
Always a reluctant political wife, she reportedly discouraged her husband from entering public life in the first place and remained notably lukewarm about his bid for a second term in April last year.
During 2018 anti-Macron demonstrations by so-called ‘Yellow Vest’ protesters, the literature and theatre lover was personally targeted, and she suffered insulting comments at the hands of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and his cabinet.
‘Did you see my face on re-election night?’ she told Le Point magazine recently, referring to her stiff performance as her husband celebrated winning another five years in power.
When not representing France abroad, she has thrown herself into charity work at home, backed by a small team operating from their own space in the presidential palace.
Most of her campaign issues are linked to her former career as a teacher – bullying in schools, childhood autism, mental health and social media – but they are also classic choices.
‘In terms of her activities, she is very traditional in her approach,’ Robert Schneider, the author of a French-language book on presidents’ wives, ‘First Ladies’, told AFP.
Born into a well-to-do provincial family – her father ran a chocolate shop in her hometown Amiens – Brigitte is widely thought to be more conservative than her husband and is on friendly terms with right-wing former president Nicolas Sarkozy.
‘At the start there were two sides to her: a free woman who had broken social conventions (through her marriage)… and the other that was conventional: a provincial bourgeoise, Catholic, well brought up, smartly dressed, who votes to the right,’ Schneider added.
‘Today it’s the second side of her that dominates.’
Her influence on policy is a subject of unending speculation in France.
She is widely used to pass messages on to her husband from advisers and allies, and serves as a sounding board for his ideas.
The French first lady Brigitte Macron and Queen Maxima visit the Keukenhof of The Netherlands are seen 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, Netherlands April 11, 2023
As his former drama teacher, Brigitte also takes a keen interest in Macron’s public speeches and addresses, coaching him on enunciation and delivery.
‘I’ve never grabbed him to say ‘do this or do that’,’ she told Le Monde newspaper in 2021. ‘But he always asks me what I think, as he does with (chief of staff) Alexis Kohler. After, he does what he wants.’
Naturally talkative, outgoing and sociable, Brigitte has battled to curb her tendency to be frank and direct in public.
‘I pay a lot more attention to what I say… because it doesn’t just involve me,’ she told the TF1 channel in January. ‘I’d like to have a lot more freedom to speak.’
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