Le staycation! Emmanuel Macron, 44, swaps his suits for shorts as he soaks up the sunshine with wife Brigitte, 69, on first mini getaway since he was re-elected as French president
- President Emmanuel Macron was spotted on a break with his wife, Brigitte
- The vacation was the couple’s first getaway since April’s presidential election
- It gave some respite to Mr Macron ahead of June’s decisive legislative elections
- Snaps of the couple’s outing, from May 28, were taken in Bormes-les-Mimosas
Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte enjoyed their first weekend away together late last month since the French president won re-election.
President Macron, 44, was seen on May 28 wearing a white Lacoste polo shirt, black shorts and sunglasses as he strolled hand in hand with the French first lady in Bormes-les-Mimosas, south-eastern France.
Brigitte, 69, donned a white blouse and a military green skirt as the power couple soaked up the rays on their first vacation since the French presidential election in late April.
Macron won with a 58.54 per cent share of the vote – beating the far-Right Marine Le Pen, 53, on 41.46 per cent, the final results showed.
But his victory over his far-right rival was narrower than in their last face-off in 2017, when he won over 66 per cent of the vote, and Le Pen’s result was the best ever for the far right with 13.2 million people voting for her.
Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte enjoyed their first weekend away together at the end of May since the French president won re-election in April
Brigitte, 69, donned a white blouse on a military green skirt as the power couple soaked up the rays while walking hand in hand holidaying in Bormes-les-Mimosas, southeastern France.
Macron sported a white René Lacoste polo shirt, black shorts and sunglasses
Re-elected to a second five-year term in April, Macron took a brief break from his duties in advance of the parliamentary elections on June 12 and 19 – where his party, recently rebranded ‘Renaissance’, is facing a challenge from the far right as well as from a new leftist alliance led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Mélenchon has said he aims to scupper Macron’s presidency by winning the role of prime minister, forcing the president into a power-sharing scenario known in France as ‘cohabitation’, according to France24.
Mélenchon has constructed an alliance of France’s left, uniting around a common policy platform and standing a single candidate in each of the 577 constituencies – with his alliance currently polling neck-and-neck with Macron’s bloc.
Meanwhile, on the international stage, Macron attracted ire last week when he said a diplomatic exit must be left open to Vladimir Putin following his disastrous invasion of Ukraine.
In an interview with a group of regional newspapers in France, Macron said: ‘We must not humiliate Russia so that the day the fighting stops, we can build a way out through diplomatic channels’.
Macron’s comment prompted the Ukrainian foreign minister to say that allies should ‘better focus on how to put Russia in its place’ as it ‘humiliates itself’.
Foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote in a tweet that ‘calls to avoid humiliation of Russia can only humiliate France and every other country that would call for it’.
In contrast to the UK and US positions, Macron has maintained an open dialogue with the Kremlin.
The French president said last week he had spoken for around 100 hours with Putin since the war in Ukraine began.