Pushed by her husband, President Valérie Giscard d’Estaing, the former First Lady presented with him the traditional greetings to the French in December 1975. 49 years later, she remembers a moment of embarrassment, she who is known to be shy and discreet by nature. She spoke this Friday at the microphone of Philippe De Vilno.
This is the image that the French keep of Anne-Aymone Giscard d’Estaing. For the first time, a French president included his companion in the traditional Happy New Year greetings to the French, on December 31, 1975. That day, pushed by Valérie Giscard d’Estaing, she sat by the fire, near him, facing the television cameras. Very discreet and shy by nature, she had to try the exercise without preparation. And 49 years later, she remembers a moment of unease which she confides exclusively to the microphone of Philippe de Vilno on Europe 1.
“I didn’t seem very comfortable”
“It was a completely improvised thing. In fact, the president always did this press conference on December 31 and that year, my husband said to me, ‘Why don’t you also introduce yourselves wishes to the French?’ So I found myself unexpectedly and therefore without technical preparation I remained in front of the cameras, it was quite impressive,” explains the former First Lady, now 91 years old.
Faced with the frequent rebroadcasts of images of these wishes that have gone down in history, she concedes with humor: “I don’t seem very comfortable, it seems to me.” Dead with stage fright at the time of the wishes, she was often mocked by viewers for this television appearance. An exercise all the more difficult since it was the only one in the history of the French presidency. Never again has a First Lady expressed her wishes at the same time as those of the President during the official televised address.