The relationship between Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte – and their 24-year age gap – has long been a subject of fascination both in France and abroad.
Mrs Macron, now 72, was a drama teacher and the President, now 47, was a pupil when they met at a private Catholic school in their hometown of Amiens.
A mother of three children, she divorced her husband and began a relationship with Mr Macron while he was in his late teens – before they tied the knot in 2007.
Interest in their marriage has intensified in recent weeks following an incident in Vietnam in May where Mrs Macron appeared to shove her husband in the face.
And yesterday, she appeared to ignore her husband when he offered her a hand off a plane as they arrived in London for their three-day state visit to Britain.
This was one of two awkward incidents that happened just minutes after the Macrons landed at RAF Northolt which were spotted by the waiting media.
French President Emmanuel Macron was ignored by his wife Brigitte yesterday at RAF Northolt
French President Emmanuel Macron offers a hand to his wife Brigitte at RAF Northolt yesterday
Mr Macron disembarked the aircraft first yesterday, before being followed by his wife Brigitte
Mrs Macron did not accept Mr Macron’s offer of a helping hand as she walked down the steps
As Mrs Macron approached her husband at RAF Northolt, she still declined to take his hand
The President and his wife were then introduced to Prince William and Kate at the airfield
The visiting leader was being welcomed by the Prince and Princess of Wales after disembarking his jet before the first lady at Northolt.
As his wife walked down the steps towards the waiting royals, who were greeting the couple on behalf of King Charles III, President Macron held out a helping hand.
But Mrs Macron appeared to ignore it, instead holding the handrail as she walked down – leaving him to awkwardly drop his hand, before giving Kate’s hand an air kiss.
Minutes later, the Macrons were seen in a car waiting to leave the base – and relations appeared frosty, with Mrs Macron looking at her phone after getting it out of her bag.
Emmanuel Macron sits next to his wife in a car at RAF Northolt after their welcome yesterday
The couple appear to remain frosty in the car as Brigitte Macron looks inside her handbag
Brigitte Macron then starts looking at her mobile phone while sat next to the President
Emmanuel Macron waves as his wife looks down following their arrival at Northolt yesterday
It comes after Mrs Macron sparked a storm in May when she was seen pushing her husband’s face away with both hands before they disembarked a plane in Vietnam.
The president dismissed the gesture – caught on camera – as horseplay, but it caused a huge stir in France, with daily Le Parisien newspaper asking: ‘Slap or ‘squabble’?’
Mrs Macron seemed to stick out both her hands and give her husband’s face a shove, leaving him startled before he recovered and turned to wave through the open door.
The couple proceeded down the staircase for the official welcome by Vietnamese officials, though Mrs Macron did not take her husband’s arm when he offered it.
‘My wife and I were squabbling, we were rather joking, and I was taken by surprise,’ Mr Macron later said, adding that it had ‘become a kind of planetary catastrophe’.
His office said in a statmeent: ‘The president and his wife were decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by horsing around. It’s a moment of complicity. It was all that was needed to give ammunition to the conspiracy theorists.’
Mrs Macron was seen pushing her husband’s face away with both hands in Vietnam in May
Mrs Macron appeared to stick out both her hands and give her husband’s face a shove
Mrs Macron also committed of a faux pas in June 2024 when she tried to hold hands with a rather reluctant Queen Camilla at the British Normandy Memorial in France.
Camilla and Mrs Macron, both dressed in white, laid wreaths at the memorial at Ver-sur-Mer, before stepping back to take a moment of reflection.
The First Lady then reached out to the Queen, but Camilla seemed somewhat reluctant to proffer her gloved hand.
After appearing to give the royal’s hand a slight squeeze, Mrs Macron dropped it and the two stood side by side in front of the memorial.
Emmanuel Macron also kept the King and Queen waiting when he was 20 minutes late for a showpiece D-Day memorial ceremony during the same visit.
The Royals were already sitting waiting when France’s head of state finally arrived at the 80th anniversary event at the memorial.
After placing their flowers at the British Normandy Memorial at Ver-sur-Mer in June 2024, the First Lady reached out to the Queen, but Camilla seemed somewhat reluctant to give her hand
The moment happened after Brigitte and Emmanuel had kept the King and Queen waiting
The Queen and the French First Lady, both dressed in white, at the memorial in June 2024
The Queen, King Charles, President Macron and his wife Brigitte at the memorial in June 2024
Back in July 2017, Mrs Macron suffered another awkward moment when Donald Trump made his admiration for her clear back in Paris when he told France’s first lady: ‘You know, you’re in such good shape.’
The compliment to Mrs Macron, then 64, was made in front of her husband – and Mr Trump repeated it to him before turning back to her and saying: ‘Beautiful.’
During the exchange, which was captured on a French official livestream, the reaction of Mr Trump’s wife Melania was not seen, because her back was to the camera.
However the American first lady seemed to move closer to Mrs Macron and put her hand around her protectively as President Trump spoke to her.
The awkward exchange came after an also-awkward lingering embrace with Mrs Macron as she and her husband welcomed the Trumps on the eve of Bastille Day.
Mr Trump kissed Mrs Macron Parisian-style, once on each cheek, before taking both her hands for a prolonged grip, in which he appeared to jerk her left arm towards him as she appeared to be struggling to get him to let go.
Donald Trump told Brigitte Macron in Paris in 2017: ‘You know, you’re in such good shape’
Melania Trump put her hand around Mrs Macron protectively as President Trump spoke to her
The Trumps and Macrons greeted each other with kisses when they met in Paris in July 2017
