Innovate and surprise.
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, whose relatives announced on Wednesday the death "from the Covid" at the age of 94, will stick to it, at least during the first part of his seven-year term (1974-1981).
The new president intends to appear as modern and he multiplies symbolic gestures.
The stated objective is to simplify the pageantry and protocol of the function and to be closer to the French.
On May 27, 1974, just elected, VGE climbed the Champs-Elysées on foot and in a suit.
On the course, where his daughters, Valérie-Anne and Jacinte, are very conveniently in the front row of the public, who challenge him, the Head of State stops to give them a kiss.
Two days later, he invited himself to television to comment on the constitution of his government.
For the official photograph, taken in August by Jacques-Henri Lartigue, the president has chosen to renounce the ceremonial dress and the Legion of Honor necklace worn by his predecessors.
He also abandons the decor of the traditional Elysée library to pose in the open air and all smiles on a blue, white and red background.
The new president, who takes the controls of a helicopter to go to the wedding of his godson, Bruno Poniatowski, himself drives his Peugeot 504 to go skiing (in Courchevel) or to see the French.
Because VGE regularly invites himself to anonymous, a framer in Paris, a truck driver in Yvelines, a sales manager in Tours ... On December 24, 1974, he invited the garbage collectors assigned to the rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré (Paris 8th district) ) to share his breakfast at the Elysée.
He boasted of being a descendant of Louis XV
On December 31, 1975, it was alongside his wife, Anne-Aymone, in front of a chimney fire at the Elysee Palace, that he offered his wishes to the French.
At the invitation of her husband, the first lady, obviously not very comfortable, herself wishes a happy new year to the French.
The duo exercise, which aimed to dust off this traditional ceremony, will not be repeated.
Another first, on July 14, 1977, VGE organized an open house operation at the Elysée.
After a queue of several hours, visitors are greeted by the president himself.
It is a real success.
These communication operations do not prevent the president from remaining very attached to a certain label.
And traditions in a very monarchical lineage.
VGE, who had part of the Louis XVI furniture and contemporary art chosen by Pompidou replaced at the Elysée by Louis XV furniture, is moreover fascinated by "the Beloved", of which he readily boasts. to be a distant descendant.
At the Elysée, receptions have very rigorous seating plans.
And unlike the practice under de Gaulle or Pompidou, the president is served the dishes first.
Even when he receives Margaret Thatcher.
She was, it is true, only Prime Minister, but this shocked the British press.
Jacques Chirac considered himself even more mistreated.
Invited for a weekend at Fort Brégançon in June 1976, the Chirac couple found themselves with the president's ski instructor and his wife.
The Prime Minister will also assure to have been installed with Bernadette on chairs while Giscard and Anne-Aymone benefited from armchairs.
VGE's opponents denounced a “monarchical drift” which was widely exploited in 1981.