Who is Élisabeth, wife of François Bayrou and mother of his six children?

The suspense lasted until the last minute. It is now official: after some hesitation, Emmanuel Macron appointed François Bayrou to succeed Michel Barnier, whose government was censored on December 4. “Responsible for forming a government”, the mayor of Pau, who will take up residence in Matignon shortly, will in any case be able to count on his most unwavering support: Élisabeth, his wife of 53 years. The woman who always believed in him, at least since they met at university.

Love at first sight at the U restaurant

At the end of the 1960s, François Bayrou, who grew up in a family of farmers, left his countryside to pursue higher education in Bordeaux: first a hypokhâgne and khâgne prep school, then the faculty of classics. And it is there, hundreds of kilometers from his native land, that the young man crosses paths with Élisabeth Perlant, nicknamed “Babeth”. “Love at first sight” was immediate, as he tells France Evening in 2010: “Babeth was going to the U restaurant. I saw her, and there it was!” In Bayrou the stubborn (2012), work by the former reporter for Figaro Rodolphe Geisler, François Bayrou says: “What I remember are first of all her legs, straight, beautiful, fine ties. Then his face. I said to myself: this girl is for me.” Just five months after their meeting, in 1971, François Bayrou and Élisabeth Perlant, just 20 years old, married. After graduating, husband and wife became literature teachers. François Bayrou obtained his aggregation a little later, at the age of 23. Before starting a career in politics.

From their union six children were born: Hélène, Marie, Dominique, Calixte (first name given in homage to the late father of François Bayrou), Agnès and André. A large family that is difficult to manage alongside their respective jobs. After the birth of their third child, Élisabeth Bayrou will prefer to end her teaching career, we read in Here is .

A discreet person who “hates worldliness”

One thing led to another, François Bayrou climbed the ranks of political life. Despite her husband's public notoriety, Élisabeth chose to remain in the background. Our colleague Rodolphe Geisler, in his writings, details: “She hates worldliness. Since her husband has been a deputy for Pau, that is to say for more than 25 years, Babeth has always refused to go to a dinner of notables in town. Elisabeth Bayrou's appearances are therefore rare and are essentially limited to important moments, such as presidential campaigns. Rare photos of her, taken in 2014 after her husband's victory in the municipal election of Pau, showed her with misty eyes.

Far from the spotlight, Élisabeth Bayrou prefers – and has always preferred – the tranquility of Pau and the small village of Bordères, located a few kilometers away. It is in this town of less than 700 inhabitants that she and her husband own a large property. They practice agriculture and horse breeding there. To the great misfortune of Madame Bayrou. “This passion of my husband can be expensive. The whole idea of ​​it being a financial business doesn't sit well with me. And, at the end of the chain, there is the PMU, people who bet, who go into debt. The world of racing is also that of billionaires, that is to say those who can afford to lose money. This isn't all that interesting to me. I would prefer my husband to raise sheep. That way I could take care of it. We would be in a world of shepherds, not billionaires. It would be good,” she confided in Bayrou the stubborn . Enough to lift the veil on a strong character.

“The political question interests him”

What has been the secret of the Bayrou couple all these years? In 2012, the president of MoDem explained it to Gala : “The fact that I had to live half the week 850 km from home was not a handicap, but an asset. Without that, she might not have put up with me for so long!” Beyond the distance, Élisabeth Bayrou is also a politics buff. Even though this universe repels her. “My wife is deeply idealistic,” affirmed François Bayrou, twelve years ago, still in the pages of Gala. “She often sees the political world as light and lacking in depth. She thinks it feels like the playground too often. But the political question interests him. We discuss it every day.” With the appointment of François Bayrou to Matignon, there is no doubt that the subject will always be on the table.