The real star is him.
“Monsieur Stéphane!
"" Mr. Bern!
In Condom, a picturesque village in the Gers, onlookers have eyes only for the television host.
Massed behind the gates, they hail him as he rushes behind Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron in the courtyard of the Hôtel de Polignac.
Built in the 18th century, this building houses a school.
The limestone walls are crumbling.
Workers are reworking the facade.
A project financed by the Loto du patrimoine, launched by Stéphane Bern.
This is what came to greet the Head of State.
"In two years, already 80 million euros have been collected thanks to these games", welcomes Emmanuel Macron.
"Heritage is not only great monuments, it is also simple places of life, which are part of everyday life", underlines Stéphane Bern.
Between two selfies, residents ask him to save several places in the vicinity.
He tries to memorize the propositions.
Then, adds, laughing: "You want me to restore your whole street!"
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This Friday is the fourth time that he accompanies the Macron for the Heritage Days.
One year, the visit was devoted to a home of Alexandre Dumas.
Another, at a castle by the artist Rosa Bonheur.
Without forgetting a stopover in the villa of the musician Pauline Viardot.
If Stéphane Bern is still at the rendezvous, the Ministers of Culture, them, parade: Françoise Nyssen and Franck Riester have left the rue de Valois.
"He rides for himself above all"
In-con-tour-na-ble!
It must be said that its shows are a hit.
Last Saturday, the replay of a TV movie where he played a lieutenant in the gendarmerie, beat the telecrochet of TF1 "The Voice".
His Loto, the third edition of which is coming to an end these days, should record a success.
“We are going through a period of anxiety with the coronavirus.
Heritage brings us back to another temporality.
Added to this is the emotional shock caused by the Notre-Dame fire, ”explains Bern.
On his blue jacket, we can see a red ribbon: it is the Legion of Honor that Emmanuel Macron personally handed to him.
The complicity of "Mr. Heritage" with the presidential couple is living an ordeal for the rest of the executive.
Because Stéphane Bern directly calls the top of the State when an arbitration does not suit him.
Otherwise, he complains in the press.
"He rides for himself above all," squeaks a former Ministry of Culture.
“Stéphane Bern is free, it's his strength.
He shakes the coconut palm.
Sometimes this can rob some, ”recognizes Franck Riester, now Minister of Foreign Trade.
"The whole government is going there"
With Roselyne Bachelot, the current Minister of Culture, coexistence is going better.
“She's a friend, we get along wonderfully well, I'm not trying to steal her place, nor to play politics,” says Stéphane Bern.
He is the first personality that the experienced minister called upon when he took office.
You can never be too careful ... The recovery plan is also very generous for heritage.
100 million euros are for example planned to restore the old castle of François 1er in Villers-Cotterêts (Aisne).
A project pushed by the star of the small screen.
Another proof of his influence, the presenter is the subject of a discreet pilgrimage to his home in Perche.
In Thiron-Gardais, the TV man bought a former royal college in 2013, which he rehabilitated.
One part houses a museum;
the other, his second home.
“The whole government goes there,” laughs a local elected official.
Ministers Gérald Darmanin, Sébastien Lecornu, Franck Riester spent a weekend in the countryside there.
Manuel Valls, too.
“François Hollande promised me to come by,” adds the owner.
Which adds: "All this is good for the economy of the village!"
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