She Was 'Far More Than a Presidential Spouse'

Bernadette Chirac, long cast as the steely half of one of France's most famous political couples, has died at 93, her daughter announced. Born Bernadette Chodron de Courcel into a wealthy, aristocratic family in Paris in 1933, she married Jacques Chirac in 1956 and went on to become far more than a presidential spouse: a seasoned local politician, a force in conservative politics, and a highly visible face of French charity work, per Le Monde. She was, notably, the wife of a sitting French president who was elected to office herself, serving as a council member in Correze for more than three decades.

Known for her sharp wit, Catholic convictions, and taste for couture, Chirac mixed a traditional sense of duty with a growing interest in women's political influence. She helped shape her husband's campaigns, became an influential player behind the scenes at Paris City Hall and the Elysee, and fronted the "Yellow Coins" hospital charity drive. She even endured her husband's extramarital affairs with "dry humor," per the AP. The couple's public life was shadowed by the long illness and 2016 death of their oldest daughter, Laurence, a struggle that helped drive Bernadette's work on behalf of sick children, per Le Monde. Widowed since Jacques Chirac's death in 2019, she had largely withdrawn from public view in recent years. France 24 takes a look back at her legacy.