{"id":31956,"date":"2026-06-06T23:56:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T23:56:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/31956\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T23:56:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T23:56:46","slug":"bernadette-chirac-formidable-former-first-lady-of-france-who-built-power-of-her-own-dies-at-93-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/31956\/","title":{"rendered":"Bernadette Chirac, formidable former first lady of France who built power of her own, dies at 93"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARIS (AP) \u2014 Bernadette Chirac, the steel-willed former first lady of France who spent 12 years at the \u00c9lys\u00e9e Palace from 1995 to 2007 beside President Jacques Chirac<\/a> \u2014 weathering his notorious infidelities with dry humor while building her own political power base in rural France \u2014 has died. She was 93.<\/p>\n

President Emmanuel Macron<\/a> confirmed her death Saturday, saying he and his wife Brigitte had learned with \u201cgreat sadness\u201d of the passing of a woman who marked French history, and changed the lives of millions through her charity work.<\/p>\n

\u201cA great lady of the heart has departed,\u201d Macron said.<\/p>\n

For more than half a century, Chirac was the fixed point in her late husband\u2019s restless climb \u2014 through Parliament, two terms as prime minister, 18 years as mayor of Paris and, in 1995, the presidency. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Bernadette<\/p>\n

Bernadette Chirac, right, wife of French President Jacques Chirac, sits beside Norma Major, wife of British Prime Minister John Major during the address of the French President to both Houses of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster, London, May 15 1996. (AP Photo\/Russell Boyce, Pool, File)<\/p>\n

Bernadette Chirac, right, wife of French President Jacques Chirac, sits beside Norma Major, wife of British Prime Minister John Major during the address of the French President to both Houses of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster, London, May 15 1996. (AP Photo\/Russell Boyce, Pool, File)<\/p>\n

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Beyond the ceremonial role of first lady, Chirac became a political presence in her own right, closely watched for her influence around her husband, who died in 2019, and for the dry discipline with which she handled his reputation as a womanizer, a subject she later addressed with unusual frankness.<\/p>\n

Swarmed by photographers in Corr\u00e8ze in 1998 \u2014 after rumors that Jacques Chirac had been unreachable the night Princess Diana died because he was with an actress \u2014 she stepped from her car and deadpanned: \u201cCalm down. I\u2019m not Claudia Cardinale. Or Lollobrigida.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"French<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"French<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

She appears in the official photographs with her chin lifted, blond hair lacquered into place, a small handbag on her arm, looking less like a spouse than like an institution.<\/p>\n

But the caricature never quite contained her. <\/p>\n

The Chanel<\/a> suits, dark glasses, nasal voice and withering judgments became part of the national image. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"French<\/p>\n

French First Lady Bernadette Chirac looks on as her husband, French President Jacques Chirac delivers a speech, during a ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris in this Oct. 16, 2006. (AP Photo\/Christophe Ena, File)<\/p>\n

French First Lady Bernadette Chirac looks on as her husband, French President Jacques Chirac delivers a speech, during a ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris in this Oct. 16, 2006. (AP Photo\/Christophe Ena, File)<\/p>\n

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Beneath them was a relentless worker and a cold-eyed political operator who, almost alone among the wives of French presidents, built a base of power that was her own.<\/p>\n

She was born Bernadette Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Marie Chodron de Courcel on May 18, 1933, in Paris, into money, lineage and Catholic duty. <\/p>\n

Her father\u2019s family included soldiers, industrialists and diplomats; an uncle had served as an aide to Charles de Gaulle in wartime London. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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But her life would be most marked by her time at the prestigious Sciences Po university in Paris, where she met Jacques Chirac, a handsome and much-courted young man whose appetite for politics would come to define them both.<\/p>\n

They married in March 1956. The union lasted 63 years and was, by her own account, a long lesson in endurance.<\/p>\n

Jacques Chirac was famous for his warmth, appetite and instinctive connection with crowds. Bernadette\u2019s gifts were different, observers said. <\/p>\n

She was controlled, socially formidable, devout, exacting and sometimes devastatingly funny.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"France's<\/p>\n

France\u2019s former first Lady Bernadette Chirac waves to support President and candidate for the upcoming re-election, Nicolas Sarkozy during a meeting in Villepinte, north of Paris, France, as part of his electoral campaign, March 11, 2012. (AP Photo\/Francois Mori, File)<\/p>\n

France\u2019s former first Lady Bernadette Chirac waves to support President and candidate for the upcoming re-election, Nicolas Sarkozy during a meeting in Villepinte, north of Paris, France, as part of his electoral campaign, March 11, 2012. (AP Photo\/Francois Mori, File)<\/p>\n

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The Catholic philosopher Jean Guitton called her the last queen of France, and she did little to discourage the idea.<\/p>\n

Her husband\u2019s reputation as a womanizer was an open secret she chose, after much pain, to meet with dry humor. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt first, it was hard. I was very heartbroken, and then I got used to it,\u201d she said years later in a television documentary. \u201cI told myself that was how things were and that I had to accept it with as much dignity as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sent to tend her husband\u2019s rural stronghold in Corr\u00e8ze while he pursued power in Paris, she did far more than tend it. In 1971, she was elected municipal councilor in Sarran. In 1979, she became a general councilor in Corr\u00e8ze and held the seat until 2015.<\/p>\n

Her influence grew after Jacques Chirac became president in 1995. The role of first lady in France has no constitutional power, but she made the \u00c9lys\u00e9e a place where her approval mattered. <\/p>\n

She could be loyal, cutting and unforgiving, and understood that campaigns are made not only of speeches and polls but of debts, slights and resentments.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former French President Jacques Chirac, waving in background, and his wife Bernadette enter their car after a ceremony awarding laureates of the Fondation Chirac at Quai Branly Museum in Paris, Nov. 24, 2011. (AP Photo\/Francois Mori, File)<\/p>\n

Former French President Jacques Chirac, waving in background, and his wife Bernadette enter their car after a ceremony awarding laureates of the Fondation Chirac at Quai Branly Museum in Paris, Nov. 24, 2011. (AP Photo\/Francois Mori, File)<\/p>\n

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Yet she also carved out a space for female authority inside a male political culture that had little interest in sharing power \u2014 making it quietly clear that she would not be reduced to \u201cthe wife of.\u201d<\/p>\n

By 2023, her severe glamour and political instincts had become familiar enough for Catherine Deneuve to play her in \u201cBernadette,\u201d a comic movie about her years at the \u00c9lys\u00e9e.<\/p>\n

Her deepest grief stayed mostly private. <\/p>\n

The Chiracs\u2019 elder daughter, Laurence, developed severe anorexia after meningitis in adolescence and attempted suicide more than once. She never fully recovered and died in 2016 at 58.<\/p>\n

That ordeal pushed Chirac toward the charitable work that reshaped her public image. <\/p>\n

In 1994, she took over a medical charity that collected coins to support children in hospitals. To millions of French viewers, the woman once mocked for hauteur became the face of hospitalized children and families living around hospital beds. <\/p>\n

She continued running it until 2019, when she handed it to Brigitte Macron, the wife of France\u2019s current president, and became honorary president.<\/p>\n

By then, she had long since become a political force in her own name. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband no longer does politics, but I do,\u201d she said to journalists, after Jacques Chirac left office in 2007. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Bernadette<\/p>\n

Bernadette Chirac, wife of President elect Jacques Chirac, looks over the Salle des Fetes (reception room) at the Elysee Palace in Paris, May 17, 1995. (AP Photo\/Lionel Cironneau, File)<\/p>\n

Bernadette Chirac, wife of President elect Jacques Chirac, looks over the Salle des Fetes (reception room) at the Elysee Palace in Paris, May 17, 1995. (AP Photo\/Lionel Cironneau, File)<\/p>\n

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She famously nicknamed Dominique de Villepin, the \u00c9lys\u00e9e official she distrusted, \u201cNero,\u201d yet also reportedly helped engineer her husband\u2019s reconciliation with Nicolas Sarkozy, the former prot\u00e9g\u00e9 who had betrayed him politically.<\/p>\n

Her 2001 memoir, \u201cConversation,\u201d written with journalist Patrick de Carolis, sold hundreds of thousands of copies and introduced the French to a franker, funnier and more independent woman than many had assumed.<\/p>\n

After Jacques Chirac left the \u00c9lys\u00e9e, his health declined and his public voice faded. Hers remained sharper for longer. Asked how he was, according to French media, she answered in her flat, unmistakable voice: \u201cHe keeps the dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

Age and grief eventually drew her out of public view. <\/p>\n

By the time Jacques Chirac died in 2019, she was too fragile to take part in the public farewell where France and foreign leaders honored him.<\/p>\n

The \u00c9lys\u00e9e said Saturday that Macron was inviting the public to pay tribute to Bernadette Chirac opposite the presidential palace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS (AP) \u2014 Bernadette Chirac, the steel-willed former first lady of France who spent 12 years at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22934,22933,1720,22935,1543,11639,22826,36,5,349,83,5447,22827,3163,6094,30,22824,6420,346,90],"class_list":["post-31956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-bernadette-thrse-marie-chodron-de-courcel","tag-bernadette-thrse-marie-chodron-de-courcel-jacques-chirac","tag-brigitte-macron","tag-catherine-deneuve","tag-charles-de-gaulle","tag-claudia-cardinale","tag-dominique-de-villepin","tag-emmanuel-macron","tag-france","tag-france-government","tag-general-news","tag-jacques-chirac","tag-jean-guitton","tag-nicolas-sarkozy","tag-notable-deaths","tag-paris","tag-patrick-de-carolis","tag-philanthropy","tag-politics","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}