Cloistered at the Elysee Palace.
With the announcement of confinement, Brigitte Macron's schedule was hit hard.
The wife of the head of state was to go to Necker hospital in Paris, to the bedside of seriously ill children.
Canceled.
She was going to participate in an action against online harassment.
Postponed.
Ditto for a campaign to raise awareness of violence against children.
As for her literature and theater classes, in the second chance school she runs in Clichy-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), they will now be held by videoconference.
However, the “first lady's” phone did not become silent.
It's quite the opposite.
It is taken by storm by the whole of Paris.
"It is the office of tears, everyone pleads that their sector of activity is essential", says a relative.
Artists, intellectuals and acquaintances campaign for restrictions and exceptions.
"I'll talk to Emmanuel about it," she sometimes replies to her interlocutors.
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A teacher by profession, Brigitte Macron defended the opening of schools with her husband, in the name of the fight against dropping out of school.
Marked by the attack against Samuel Paty, Brigitte Macron expressed her sadness in a letter.
The job of a “teacher”, she writes, consists of “developing a critical mind” in order to make students “free”.
This culture fan hoped that bookstores would be spared the containment ax.
A position that Emmanuel Macron supported until Wednesday morning.
Before changing your mind.
“During the defense council, the president re-looked at the health figures, recalls a witness.
It was untenable, we had to close as many businesses as possible.
"
"She gives her opinion, it is a united couple, but she arrogates nothing"
"Madame Macron does not intervene in arbitrations, she has her own activity", assures one of her advisers at the palace.
However, his friends recognize him as having a certain influence.
"Brigitte Macron accompanies him in the decisions," says a friend of the couple.
Another adds: “She gives her opinion, it is a united couple, but she does not arrogate to herself.
"
As "first lady", Brigitte Macron found herself at the forefront of the health crisis.
In 2019, she took over from Bernadette Chirac as president of the Hôpitaux de Paris-Hôpitaux de France foundation.
With this cap, she had equipment (gowns, masks, automatic syringes, etc.) delivered to health establishments during the first epidemic peak.
Next January, it will launch a new “yellow coins” operation.
With online jackpots, because the French increasingly favor “contactless” payment with hard and loose currencies.
After having recently been a "contact case", Brigitte Macron took a PCR test which turned out negative.
The traditional weekend in Honfleur (Calvados) of the Macron couple for All Saints' Day fell through due to confinement.
The next few weeks promise to be all the more sedentary as the security services are worried about a growing threat to the Macrons, since the outbreak of anger in part of the Muslim world, after the republication of the Muhammad cartoons.