An unexpected confidence… Thursday September 8, 2022, in the early evening, Buckingham Palace announced in a press release the death of Elizabeth II, at the age of 96. During her reign, the Queen of England met ten presidents of the French Republic… and it seems that she had a strong opinion on each of them and even on the age difference of Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron .
As a reminder, the presidential couple is 24 years apart. At the age of 16, the head of state had the woman who would become his wife a few years later as a theater teacher at the Providence high school in Amiens, in the Somme. In the columns of Paris Match, the First Lady assured: “For me, a boy so young, it was prohibitive“. And yet, it was against all odds that they fell in love.
Brigitte Macron: “We are an atypical couple, we are 24 years apart”
Friday November 12, 2021, in the columns of Le Monde, the First Lady spoke of her age gap with her husband. “The French would undoubtedly have preferred a younger 'First Lady'… I know, we are an atypical couple, we are 24 years apart,
I understand that this may be surprisingthat people do not understand us, but I do not understand the aggressiveness”she had indicated.
Saturday January 7, 2023, on the set of Rencontres du Papotin, on France 2, one of the show's journalists estimated:
“He is the President, he must set an example and not marry his teacher”. Amused, Emmanuel Macron replied: “When you're in love, you don't choose“before adding tit for tat: “She wasn't really my teacher. She was my theater teacher. It doesn't count the same”.
What did Elizabeth II think of the Macron couple?
Tuesday November 19, 2024, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave an interview to Anne-Élisabeth Lemoine and Patrick Cohen for C à vous, on France 5. Asked about Elizabeth II and their last meeting, this one remembered: “Even with his cancer, his soul and spirit were incredible“before adding: “She knew every president of the French Republic, from Charles de Gaulle to Emmanuel Macron”.
In private, Elizabeth II would have said what she thought of the Macron couple to Boris Johnson. While they were shocked when the President of the Republic assured that Northern Ireland was not the same country as the United Kingdom, she would have blurted out about Brigitte Macron: “She didn't teach him much history“.
