Delicious scandal of a French first lady in waiting

An affair with an ex-pupil 25 years her junior? Brigitte Trogneux is a spicy addition to France’s glamorous political soap opera, writes Eleanor Steafel

If, as has been widely predicted, 39-year-old Emmanuel Macron enters the Élysée Palace in two weeks' time, he will be France's youngest leader since Napoleon and, to many, "France's answer to JFK". Beside him will be the woman who has been his greatest champion since he was a schoolboy: his wife and former teacher, Brigitte Trogneux.

In 1993, following his star turn in a school play, Trogneux planted a tender kiss on the cheek of 14-year-old Macron in front of the parents and pupils at a private Jesuit school in Amiens. Two years later, he declared his intention to marry her.

On Sunday night, Trogneux was on stage again in Paris, blowing kisses to a roaring crowd as it was announced that her husband - 24 years and eight months her junior, and leader of France's progressive En Marche! movement - had beaten the country's two long-established main parties to join Marine le Pen in the final round of the presidential election.

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The couple waved and grinned broadly for the cameras, before giving the crowd the photo opportunity they wanted - a good, old-fashioned French kiss.

Dressed in an elegant pale grey suit, which showed off her impressive tan, with her blonde hair expertly coiffed, the woman who could be France's next first lady looked every bit the part.

Clever and stylish, with sparkling blue eyes and a Hollywood smile to match her husband's, Trogneux - at 64, a mother of three and grandmother of seven - would be the second-oldest first lady, behind Bernadette Chirac, if Macron is elected.

Add to that the fact that Trogneux divorced the father of her three children to be with Macron, and you have all the makings of a classic real-life French political drama.

Typically, though, the quasi-scandalous backdrop of their marriage is something the rest of the world has made a great deal more fuss about than the French themselves.

When it comes to what goes on behind closed doors, the French are, as in most areas of life, altogether cooler about it than the rest of us.

What's more, the French press has been historically unwilling to delve into the private lives of its ruling class. Former president François Mitterrand had an affair for 32 years, which produced an illegitimate daughter (and he possibly had a son from another relationship, too), but such matters were written about in French newspapers only after his death.

Current president François Hollande parted ways with his mistress and de facto first lady, Valerie Trierweiler, in 2014 after it was revealed that he had also been having an affair with Julie Gayet, an actress 18 years his junior.

Following his first-round win on Sunday, Macron did come under fire - but only for celebrating too lavishly when he hosted a glitzy dinner for his supporters. Which goes to show that, in France, it is more controversial to be flash than to marry your schoolteacher.

The couple have, nevertheless, managed to pique the interest of the French press. Trogneux gave an interview to Paris Match last year in which she let in some light on the early days of their relationship, saying: "At the age of 17, Emmanuel said to me: 'Whatever you do, I will marry you!'"

The interview was quickly brushed off by the politician's camp, with Macron saying: "My wife doesn't understand the media. She regrets it profoundly. It was a mistake, a mistake we both made. My relationship, my family, it's what I care about the most, there is no strategy to exhibit them, it is without a doubt a blunder. I take full responsibility and it won't be something we will be repeating."

So why are we intrigued by her? Is it the deliciously controversial circumstances of their relationship? Is it because Macron has pledged to carve out an official role for her in his administration? Or because of her magnificent "forme olympique", as described by one French magazine?

block_quotes_start He wants to give the idea that, if he was able to seduce a woman 24 years his senior and a mother of three children, he can conquer France in the same way block_quotes_end

As far as Macron's biographer is concerned, the couple's relationship was written in the stars in a rather uncomfortably Freudian way. The young Emmanuel enjoyed a provincial, bourgeois family life, with parents who were both doctors and worked a lot, and it was his grandmother, Manette, who was his biggest influence growing up.

Manette, also a teacher, was "demanding and determined" and "opened the door to reading and culture for him", writes Anne Fulda. He would call her every night, and says of her: "She helped me believe in my political destiny."

So, well before he married his teacher, clever, cultured women were a huge influence in young Macron's life. "He wasn't like the others," Trogneux told a French documentary last year. "He wasn't a teenager. He had a relationship of equals with other adults."

At 16, Macron, who as a young man wanted to be a novelist, left his provincial school to finish his education in Paris, vowing to marry his former teacher. "We'd call each other all the time and spend hours on the phone," she remembered. "Bit by bit, he defeated all my resistance, in an amazing way, with patience."

And sure enough, Trogneux - with three children (her eldest daughter, Laurence, is the same age as Macron, and was his classmate) - left her husband and began a relationship with her former pupil, marrying him in 2007.

For years, they avoided the public eye, presumably aware that their marriage risked overshadowing Macron's lofty political plans. But since launching his presidential bid last year, having served for two years as industry minister in Hollande's unpopular socialist government, something has shifted.

His biographer told the BBC: "He wants to give the idea that, if he was able to seduce a woman 24 years his senior and a mother of three children, in a small provincial town, without opprobrium and mockery, he can conquer France in the same way."

And if he does beat Le Pen next Sunday, it will be with Trogneux by his side. She has been quoted as saying she is "the president of his fan club", and is often seen attending high-level meetings with him.

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More thrilling for some is how Trogneux has turned heads with what Vogue magazine called her "chic-bobo [or bourgeois-bohemian] aesthetic".

With her slim-cut navy tailoring, low-heeled shoes and immaculately highlighted but not overly coiffed hair, she is the quintessential femme d'un certain âge, with a dignified but cool sense of style, which the French respect immeasurably.

Why did everyone like Carla Bruni-Sarkozy? Because, unlike her husband with his distinctly dodgy platform shoes, she looked wonderful in a grey Christian Dior suit and a pair of Louboutins.

Delphine de Canecaude, a Paris-based art director, told L'Express magazine Trogneux was "rock'n'roll. Not for a second does she say, 'I'm 64, so I cannot wear short skirts.' Twelve-inch heels, sleeveless dresses, leather trousers: she dares everything. She is a mega wonder woman."

But, as Vogue's fashion features editor points out, she also displays a degree of deference to the "lynchpins of the French fashion industry", with her array of Louis Vuitton Capucines bags, and her regular appearances on the front row at all the biggest fashion shows.

Whatever happens when the French go to the polls on May 7, Trogneux will be by Macron's side all the way. "She will have the role that she always had with me," he told French radio station RTL. "She will not be hidden, because she shared my life, because her opinion is important, and because the presidential position carries something of a personal dimension.

"She has always been by my side; she's my equilibrium."

Macron had better watch out that the brilliant Brigitte doesn't soon eclipse him altogether.

- © The Daily Telegraph, London