The opulence of Sarkozy, the ordeal of Giscard… These presidential investitures that marked the spirits

The protocol, the whole protocol, but nothing but the protocol. The Elysée has promised that Emmanuel Macron’s investiture ceremony, which is to take place this Saturday from 11 a.m., will be a moment “sober” and will take place “in accordance with republican principles”. It is circumstance: when a president succeeds himself, this solemnity is limited to the strict minimum.

Proclamation of the results of the election by the President of the Constitutional Council, speech, presentation of the insignia of Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, review of the troops, twenty-one cannon shots and basta. The ritual is then, it must be said, more forbidding and less rich in memorable images than during a transfer of power between two presidents.

1988 and 2002: celebrations without fanfare

No pomp or frills for the re-election of François Mitterrand. The socialist president did not wish to give this ceremony the brilliance which had marked his enthronement in 1981. The lack of enthusiasm is felt even in the voice of the journalist Paul Amar who comments on it for Antenne 2. He is content to a reception at the Elysée Palace and a hasty speech: barely more than twenty minutes for all formal formalities. It must be said that legislative elections take place barely two weeks later. The world notice moreover at the time the “sunken eyes” officials of the Socialist Party, coming directly from the historic headquarters rue de Solférino where they had just spent the night completing the list of candidates.

Fifteen years later, Jacques Chirac has only invited around sixty people to celebrate his re-election. All are motionless while the Head of State performs the Republican ritual. It is to believe that we are at the Grévin museum and not in the village hall of the Elysée. Jacques Chirac manages to make it shorter than his predecessor: a quarter of an hour. The time of a speech where, re-elected against Jean-Marie Le Pen thanks to the republican front and the voices of the left, he reaffirms the major theme of his campaign, security. Campaign whose director was Antoine Rufenacht, historic mayor of Le Havre. Freed noted at the time that the latter was the only personal guest of the President during this ceremony. This Saturday, eyes could once again be riveted on another Le Havre councilor: Edouard Philippe, whose ambitions LREM is wary of during the next legislative elections.

2012: the prank of François Hollande

This May 15, 2012, the atmosphere is freezing at the Elysée. François Hollande is to succeed Nicolas Sarkozy, whom he beat after a particularly rough duel. The first arrives at the Elysée, welcomed under the sun – this is an important detail – by the second. The two leave to talk for about thirty minutes. Until then, the protocol is respected. But on their return to the steps of the presidential palace, François Hollande commits a blunder that will mark the spirits.

The tradition is that the president-elect accompanies his predecessor to his car. But the socialist does not linger. He turns on his heels, even before Nicolas Sarkozy has returned to his vehicle, and leaves to return to the village hall to be invested. He confided five years later that he regretted this attitude. But the Sarkozy clan has long reproached him for it. Carla Bruni will even allude to this prank in a song from 2013. “Hey penguin, if one day you cross my path again, I will teach you how to kiss my hand”, she sang resentfully.

In addition to this misconduct, the enthronement of François Hollande will be remembered for meteorological reasons. Almost at the time when the socialist signs the minutes of investiture, the rain begins to fall on Paris. When he goes up the Champs-Elysées aboard his convertible DS, a deluge falls on him. Wet, the new president then surely does not suspect that his five-year term will be placed under the sign of bad weather.

2007: the coronation of Nicolas Sarkozy I

The investiture ritual is intended to be republican, but sometimes it takes on a monarchical air. That of Nicolas Sarkozy, May 16, 2007, is the most convincing example. As soon as he arrived on rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, the new president was acclaimed like a king by the crowd. The handover with Jacques Chirac proceeds however without incident, in the strict respect of the tradition. Both are on the right, the youngest has certainly carved out his elder, of whom he was the minister, but they greet each other warmly and the invested president waits a long time for his predecessor to leave by car.

What gives this enthronement the appearance of a coronation is above all Nicolas Sarkozy’s family background, which is reminiscent of that of the most tumultuous royal families. His wife Cécilia came to attend the ceremony in the company of her two daughters from a first marriage, her stepsons Pierre and Jean Sarkozy, and Louis, the youngest of this blended family. The latter seems impressed by so much pomp, to the point of losing his good manners. As his father is about to make his entrance, he escapes from his mother’s arms to fiddle with the large necklace of the Legion of Honor.

It must be said that the protocol is followed with very little rigor. To the traditional suite number 8 in C major by Lully, we prefer an aria by the Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz, great-grandfather of Cécilia. The calm and strict attire during such ceremonies are shaken by bursts of laughter and hugs from the abnormally numerous guests. What, ten days only after the Fouquet’s evening, to reinforce the image of a president “bling bling” which will stick to his skin throughout his mandate.

1981: transfer under tension between Mitterrand and Giscard

François Mitterrand’s investiture ceremony, historic in many respects, offers its share of striking images. This is the first transfer of power between two presidents elected by universal suffrage: Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in 1974 and Georges Pompidou in 1969 had each succeeded Alain Poher, interim president. And above all, it marks the arrival of the left in power after more than a quarter of a century in opposition. On May 21, 1981, the rite of escorting the outgoing president to the main courtyard of the Elysee Palace began. Until then, he attended the entire ceremony.

Mitterrand therefore accompanies Giscard outside the Elysée where a crowd of journalists and photographers awaits them. The newly elected president is forced to dismiss them to allow his predecessor to clear his way. This is only the beginning of his ordeal. His car is parked outside the palace, so he has to cross rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré then rue de l’Elysée. And face the whistles and boos of the crowd who came to cheer the socialist. After him, each outgoing will make sure that a car is waiting for him in the yard.

While Giscard endures a moment of disgrace, Mitterrand returns to a packed village hall (500 guests) to be officially invested. His hug with the former President of the Council Pierre Mendès France, in tears, particularly marked the spirits. “You are the person here whose presence here touches me the most. Without you, all of this would not have been possible”, murmurs the socialist president. After this moment of solemnity, the socialist puts on the costume of a republican monarch to go triumphantly up the Champs-Elysées, standing in a Citroën SM convertible. Skillfully using the attributes of power to anchor the left at the Elysée.