Bernadette Chirac, the formidable former first lady of France who spent 12 years at the Élysée Palace beside President Jacques Chirac while forging her own political identity and transforming a children’s hospital charity into a national institution, has died aged 93.
Issued on: 06/06/2026 - 15:25
3 min Reading time
French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed her death on Saturday, saying he and his wife Brigitte had learned with “great sadness” of the passing of a woman who had helped shape French public life and improved the lives of millions of patients through her charitable work. In a post on X, Macron wrote: "Bernadette Chirac changed so many lives with discretion and obstinacy. A great lady of the heart has departed." For more than half a century, Chirac was the fixed point in her husband’s restless ascent through French politics – from Parliament to two terms as prime minister, 18 years as mayor of Paris and, in 1995, the presidency. In official photographs, she appeared with her chin lifted, blond hair immaculately set, handbag on her arm – less a presidential spouse than an institution in her own right. Yet the familiar image never quite contained her. Behind the Chanel suits, dark glasses, nasal voice and famously sharp judgments was a tireless worker and cool political operator who built a power base of her own.
