Bernadette Chirac, the only first lady in the history of France who had her own political office, has died / Why the French loved her so much
Bernadette Chirac, the widow of former French President Jacques Chirac, died on Friday evening at the age of 93, her daughter, Claude Chirac, announced to AFP on Saturday morning.
Mrs Chirac, born Bernadette Chodron de Courcel, “passed away peacefully, surrounded by loved ones. She had just turned 93” on May 18, her daughter said. Jacques Chirac died in 2019 at the age of 86.
She was the only First Lady to hold a political office under her own name, that of Councilor General of the Corrèze (South-West) department, where she was elected continuously from 1979 to 2015.
Wife of Jacques Chirac for more than 60 years, who remained for a long time in the shadow of the “president”, she accompanied her husband all the way to the Elysée (minister, prime minister, mayor of Paris) until he won the presidential elections in 1995, at the third attempt.
Born on May 18, 1933 in Paris, Bernadette Chodron de Courcel grew up in a family of diplomats in the very elegant 16th arrondissement of the capital. A student at Sciences-Po Paris, in this great school she met Jacques Chirac, whom she married in 1956.
During the first presidential term (1995-2002) of Jacques Chirac, she was initially relegated to the background.
Beloved for the campaign to help children in hospitals
Before she played a key role in her husband's re-election in 2002, she had become very popular with the French, particularly as the leader of the “Pièces jaunes” campaign in favor of hospitalized children, and was a favorite of right-wing elected officials who flocked to her in local and parliamentary elections.
Classy and bourgeois in appearance, known to be far more conservative than her husband, with a solid political sense, the one who earned the nickname “Bernie” had warned Jacques Chirac in 1997 about the disaster of a dissolution of Parliament, for which he had blamed the then Secretary General of the Elysée Palace, Dominique de Villepin, nicknamed “Nero” in small circles.
Her husband also recounted that she was the only one who warned him about the rise of National Front (far-right) leader Jean-Marie Le Pen during the 2002 presidential election.
“She is the woman of my life, we have achieved so much together!” Jacques Chirac said about her in his “Memoirs”.
Macron: A lady with a big heart is leaving us
President Emmanuel Macron said he and his wife Brigitte were saddened to learn of the passing of Madame Bernadette Chirac.
“As First Lady, she marked our history with President Jacques Chirac, the life of the Corrèze department, where she was elected, and the fate of millions of anonymous patients, thanks to her deep and constant commitment.
Bernadette Chirac changed so many lives with discretion and tenacity. A lady with a big heart is leaving us. The nation shares the pain of her family, those close to her and all those who loved her,” Macron wrote on Facebook.
