shocking love affair with young woman revealed in book

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“The Last Secret”, a book by journalist Solenn de Royer, relates President François Mitterand’s last love affair with Claire, a woman fifty years younger.

More than 25 years after the death of François Mitterand, the first left-wing head of state of the Fifth Republic continues to fascinate. And for good reason: his life is not lacking in gray areas. September 30, 2021, Le Monde has thus published the good sheets of a book written by Solenn de Royer, senior reporter for Le Monde, to be published by Grasset on October 6. His title : “The last secret”, for a story that looks back on the relationship, during the last 8 years of his life, of François Mitterand with a young woman 50 years his junior.

In 1984, Claire arrived in Paris for her studies. She is 18 years old, interested in leftist ideals, even taking her Socialist Party card. With one of her friends, she follows the president in all his travels and tries by all means to meet him, a desire that “sometimes borders on obsession”, specifies Le Monde. It was in 1988 that a romantic relationship with François Mitterrand, 72, began to form, at the initiative of Claire, 22. The young woman invites the president to his small apartment in Paris. Gradually, she began to frequent the Élysée, until she was present during official trips and dinners. Between 1988 and 1996, Claire and the President spoke to each other almost every day.

50 years of difference between Claire and François Mitterand

Great age difference and power relationship: the equation probably seemed acceptable in the 1980s. However, when Claire confides in her secret relationship to one of her friends, the latter retorts her. “disgusts”. In the book, Claire also confides to the journalist that “Fifty years apart, it’s overwhelming, but I found it beautiful”. She does not manage to leave Mitterrand and lets him continue the relationship. During all eight years that it will last, “she never knows in advance how much time he has. He likes to keep her in limbo, uncertainty. (…)”, tells the book.

To drive the point home of the ambivalence, or rather, the problematic nature of this relationship, it is experienced in a context of dissimulation. When Claire learns of the existence of the couple that François Mitterand forms with Anne Pingeot, he begins by denying. When he finally recognizes this double life, Claire confides to Solenn de Royer about this relationship and the existence of Mazarine Pingeot, their child: “I don’t even know then who, mother or daughter, I’m jealous”. The young woman will remain with the president until the end, in 1996. When he dies at 79, Claire is 30. The forthcoming book is presented as the last great secret of the president, on which the revelations do not. have not failed, both during his lifetime and beyond death.

Missions: Mathilde is an expert in subjects related to women’s rights and health. Addicted to Instagram and Twitter, never stingy with a good …

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