The Elysée Palace in Paris has been the site of sexual
intrigues, but President Emmanuel Macron appears to have bucked the trend.
What the butler saw: sex secrets of French presidents'
palace revealed
For 300 hundred years staff at the Elysée witnessed men
flaunting their power over women, but no longer, says author of a new book
Kim Willsher
Published onSun
19 Apr 2020 08.16 BST
From the time of
kings and emperors to modern day presidents, the Elysée Palace has stood as a
symbol of male dominance in society and politics. Behind the wrought iron gates
its gilded salons have witnessed conquests of many kinds – including,
frequently, the sexual.
Now a prominent
historian has argued that, just as French society is changing with the #MeToo
movement and greater scrutiny of predatory behaviour, so too must the country’s
presidents.
“In the past, it
was almost a mark of prestige that a man of power like the president had a
mistress, almost as a kind of gauge that he was a true leader, even if these
dominant males were almost a kind of predator,” said Jean Garrigues, author of
a new book on the Elysée’s scandalous past. “The behaviour of French presidents
was like that of a monarch. Today, this type of behaviour that treats women as
objects and trophies is no longer accepted in society.
“We have the
#MeToo movement. We don’t tolerate the subjugating of women or that they are
some kind of hunting trophy. The erotic story of the Elysée shows us the
evolution of our society.”
His
interpretation tallies with a new report published earlier this year which
painted a far more sober picture of the palace under Emmanuel Macron.
“It’s the first
time we’ve seen advisers working this hard,” an unnamed butler, who was
described as having worked at the presidential palace for 40 years, told Le
Figaro magazine. “We’re bored stiff at the Elysée. No one bonks any more.
Before you had to knock two or three times at doors to be certain not to
interrupt someone in a compromising position.” Another anonymous witness told
the magazine: “With this administration, all the libido of power is going into
drawing up technical notes.”
In Une histoire
érotique de l’Elysée, Garrigues details how the palace has been at the centre
of some of the country’s most notorious sex scandals for three hundred years.
“There has always been a sort of erotic perfume in the atmosphere of the palace
that comes from it being a place of strength and power,” Garrigues said.
“It is
complicated to say whether it’s the power of the place that makes its occupants
great seducers or whether it is those men who have shown a strong desire to
conquer women and power, who become occupants.”
The Elysée was
commissioned as a grand hôtel particulier [private mansion] by the Count of Évreux,
who used the dowry of his 12-year-old wife, Marie-Anne Crozat, daughter of
Paris’s richest man. No sooner was it completed than Évreux bundled Marie-Anne
into a carriage during the inauguration ball, ordered the driver to take her to
their country home and installed his mistress in the property.
Shortly
afterwards, Louis XV acquired the property for his mistress, the Marquise de
Pompadour, who held lavish parties where she would pick young women to have sex
with the king, according to Garrigues. Later, banker Nicolas Beaujon lived in
the palace with his six mistresses.
Since 1848, the
Elysée has been the official home of French presidents, and while at least two,
Charles de Gaulle and Georges Pompidou, were faithful, others were decidedly
not. This arguably reached a peak during the 1981-1995 rule of François
Mitterrand, who was most notorious for keeping a secret second family installed
in an annexe of the Elysée, with the knowledge of his long-suffering wife
Danielle.
But Mitterrand
had many other affairs, and according to the journalist Catherine Nay, quoted
in Garrigues’s book: “During Mitterrand’s time in the Elysée it was incredibly
libertine. Everyone was jumping on everyone else.” The president’s behaviour,
said Garrigues, bordered on harassment.
His book ends
with the Elysée’s current occupants: Macron and his wife, Brigitte, about whom
he has nothing scandalous to reveal. “Not only have mores and mentalities
changed, we have seen with recent scandals that the increased media scrutiny
and the paparazzi makes it difficult for politicians to pass under the radar as
they once could,” Garrigues said. Macron’s predecessor, François Hollande,
dumped his long-term girlfriend Valérie Trierweiler after being caught by
photographers visiting actress Julie Gayet on his scooter.
“There was a
tradition of keeping quiet in France that protected presidents’ private lives,
which is how Mitterrand was able to lead a double life, but that is not
possible today. This type of behaviour by presidents is no longer admired,”
said Garrigues.
ENGLISH
Judging by the
romantic, tumultuous affairs of our recent presidents, a scent of eroticism
would envelop the Elysée Palace. It is not surprising in fact when we know that
the Count of Évreux, who had built it with his wife's dowry, lived with his
mistress, barely his wife dismissed on the day of his inauguration in 1720!
From the Marquise
of Pompadour providing young prey to Louis XV to the liaisons of the presidents
of the Fifth Republic laid out in the open, through the erotic cross-hunts of
the Murat and Bonaparte couple, the "little empresses" of Napoleon
III, the socialites of Adolphe Thiers, the unsistingian actresses of Félix
Faure, Clemenceau and Raymond Poincaré, the obsession with the women of a
Pétain and the passion for conquering a Chirac or a Mitterrand , the fracas of
the tenants of the old mansion is definitely not new!
A painting
removed from the underside of a place of power as much as pleasures that,
beyond the tasty anecdotes, teaches us as much about the evolution of our
society in its male-female relationships as about the dangerous links
maintained of all time between drunkenness of the peaks and carnal ecstasy.
A naturalist,
professor of contemporary history at the University of Orleans and chairman of
the Parliamentary and Political History Committee, Jean Garrigues is a
connoisseur of the political arcana of France. He has
notably published The
Scandals of the Republic and The
World According to Clemenceau.
FRENCH
À en juger par
les affaires amoureuses, et tumultueuses, de nos récents présidents, un parfum
d'érotisme envelopperait le palais de l'Élysée. Rien de surprenant en réalité
quand on sait que le comte d'Évreux, qui l'avait fait édifier avec la dot de sa
femme, l'habita avec sa maîtresse, à peine son épouse congédiée le jour de son
inauguration en 1720 !
De la marquise de
Pompadour procurant de jeunes proies à Louis XV aux liaisons des présidents de
la Ve République étalées au grand jour, en passant par les chassés-croisés
érotiques du couple Murat et des Bonaparte, les « petites impératrices » de
Napoléon III, les mondaines d'Adolphe Thiers, les comédiennes peu farouches de
Félix Faure, Clemenceau et Raymond Poincaré, l'obsession pour les femmes d'un
Pétain et la passion de la conquête d'un Chirac ou d'un Mitterrand, les
frasques des locataires de l'ancien hôtel particulier ne datent décidément pas
d'hier !
Une peinture
enlevée des dessous d'un lieu de pouvoir autant que de plaisirs qui, par-delà
les anecdotes savoureuses, nous en apprend tout autant sur l'évolution de notre
société dans ses rapports hommes-femmes que sur les liaisons dangereuses
entretenues de tous temps entre ivresse des sommets et extases charnelles.
Normalien,
professeur d'histoire contemporaine à l'université d'Orléans et président du
Comité d'histoire parlementaire et politique, Jean Garrigues est un fin
connaisseur des arcanes politiques de la France. Il a notamment publié Les scandales de la
République et Le monde selon Clemenceau.
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