In chronological order, there was Ségolène, then Valérie and finally Julie. As in the days of the ancien regime, most French people would recognise the names of their ruler's last three mistresses.
All the president's women were in the news this week. Ségolène Royal (61), France's ecology minister, former presidential candidate and François Hollande's partner for more than two decades, just accompanied him on a five-day official trip to the Caribbean. A cover story in L'Obs magazine described her as "la vice-présidente".
Valerie Trierweiler, the spurned mistress who was driven from the Elysée Palace in January 2014, appeared on the front page of Le Parisien. She "was the instrument of [Hollande's] conquest of power", Trierweiler told the newspaper, in an interview timed to promote the paperback of Thank You for the Moment, her vengeful tale of life with Hollande.
Unlike Royal and Trierweiler, Julie Gayet (42), the current "first girlfriend", did not give an interview. However L'Express magazine's cover story on "The Mysterious Julie Gayet" confirmed the actor lives in the Elysée with Hollande.
Gayet is the model of discretion, entering by the garden gate and recycling government-owned furniture in the palace’s private apartments rather than spending taxpayers’ money.
Each of these women seeks a form of recognition. After being crushed at the polls in 2012, Royal is thrilled to be perceived as a senior stateswoman and politician, and to have become a valued adviser to her former partner.
Trierweiler says that "henceforward, I want to be considered not as an ex, but as the woman and journalist that I am". Gayet has acted in more than 70 films for cinema and television, usually in supporting roles. She has travelled to the Cannes film festival for the projection of I'm Counting on You, in which she plays a mythomaniac swindler living in Israel. Gayet wants to be recognised as an artiste.
Trierweiler was pathologically jealous of Royal and, during the 2012 legislative election campaign, sent a tweet urging voters to choose Royal’s adversary. It was the beginning of the end of the Hollande-Trierweiler duo.
As reported by L'Obs, Hollande telephoned Royal that night to apologise and to comfort her. He offered her the presidency of the Institute of the Arab World, a prestigious ambassador's post, or a job as an EU commissioner, all of which she declined because she wanted to return to politics.
Trierweiler left the Elysée after the tabloid Closer published photographs of Hollande travelling on the back of a scooter to trysts with Gayet. Her departure hailed the total rehabilitation of Royal, who was appointed minister of ecology and the third-ranking person in the government in April 2014.
Royal and the four children she had with Hollande now lunch with him at the Elysee on Sundays. She is one of few socialist ministers still considered “close to the people”. One pollster calls Royal a “decoder of presidential thought”.
Hollande and Royal "are inseparable", Trierweiler told Le Parisien. "It goes beyond their children. They share an immoderate taste for politics. Power is their reason for living, their shared obsession."
When Trierweiler’s book was published last September, Hollande and Royal dined in a Paris restaurant to co-ordinate their reactions and present a united front. The hardback sold 750,000 copies, but was widely criticised by the political class.
"The crime of lèse-majesté still exists in people's minds," says Trierweiler. "I hadn't realised we were still under a monarchy." She spends much of her time working for the Secours Populaire charity and will not say how she has spent her book royalties.
Hollande hosted a party for Gayet's friends from the world of cinema at the Elysée last December. They have spent several years together, but Hollande bristles at the idea of making their relationship official. Now 60, he has never married. "For him, 'first lady' is synonymous with problems, and a 'coming out' strategy is out of the question," L'Express quotes an actor. "He scolds everyone who advises him to put Julie forward in his next presidential campaign."
In the meantime, Gayet insisted that the title of the film in which she is starring at Cannes be changed. “Thank You for Your Collaboration!” was too similar to the title of Trierweiler’s book.
