Elisabeth Perlant, François Bayrou's wife for more than 50 years, is a former literature teacher. And Elisabeth Bayrou doesn't really have a good image of the political world…
Friday the 13th is therefore not a lucky day for everyone. While François Bayrou was officially named Prime Minister by Emmanuel Macron this Friday, his wife, Elisabeth Bayrou, may not be having the best day of her life. The one who was charged with the delicate mission of forming a new government, after the censorship of Michel Barnier, is in one way or another in a form of consecration at 73 years old, he who has tried many times to take the power in almost 30 years of career. But for the one who has followed him in the shadows for more than 50 years, and who intended to stay there, the light is getting dangerously close.
Elisabeth Perlant married François Bayrou in 1971. It was on the benches of university that the future centrist leader, who passed through the Republican right, fell in love with the woman whom everyone already nicknamed “Babeth”. “I saw her and that’s it,” he assured in comments transcribed by biographer Rodolphe Geisler, in “Bayrou l’obstiné” in 2012 (Plon). “What I remember were first of all her legs, straight, beautiful fine ties. Then her face. I said to myself: this girl, she is for me,” explained the presidential candidate at the time. It will take less than six months to move on to marriage, the young 20-year-old students already determined to reconcile family life and professional ambitions. Both will then become professors of Letters.
But quickly, family imperatives take over. The couple gave birth to no less than 6 children – Hélène, Marie, Dominique, Calixte, Agnès and André (they now have no less than 17 grandchildren). Elisabeth Bayrou quickly decided, from the third child, to put an end to her career as a Classics teacher to devote herself to their education. An assumed choice which will allow her to preserve her precious freedom, but also, perhaps, to never interfere in her husband's political career…
Elisabeth Bayrou “often considers the political world as light and lacking depth”
Although driven by deep political convictions, Elisabeth Bayrou would also have always, in private, shown her distrust of public affairs being treated, or rather the way in which it is treated, in particular by worldly people. Since the election of her husband as deputy for Pau more than 25 years ago, she has systematically refused to go to dinners of notables. She barely agreed to make a brief appearance on her husband's arm during the elections. “My wife is deeply idealistic. She often considers the political world to be light and lacking in depth. She thinks that it too often resembles the playground. But the political question interests her,” François Bayrou confided to Gala in 2012.
A discreet but not inconspicuous wife, Elisabeth Bayrou therefore has strong ideas about politics, but which she prefers to keep to herself. Discussions on this subject would nevertheless be daily within the couple, most often by telephone due to François Bayrou's Parisian obligations. These regular calls, “four or five times a day, just to say nothing” also annoy Elisabeth, who is very attached to her independence. “I like to be given a bit of leeway,” she declared, according to several revelations from the celebrity press (Here, VSD…).
To the glitter of the capital, Elisabeth Bayrou would especially prefer the tranquility of Pau or the family property of Bordères, not far from there. A place where François Bayrou has often highlighted his profile as a farmer and horse breeder. His wife, however, doesn't really appreciate this other activity either. “The world of racing is that of billionaires. I would prefer that my husband raised sheep, that way I could take care of them,” she also said, according to Rodolphe Geisler. Definitely.
As François Bayrou prepares to enter Matignon, there is no doubt that Elisabeth will in any case take care to preserve her secret garden and observe politics with the necessary distance, far from the gold of the Republic.
