Until the end, the replacement of Catherine Pgard was a roller coaster ride.
While the appointment to the Council of Ministers of his replacement, Christophe Leribault, was to be announced on February 14, we had to wait another week.
The appointment decree was ready, the matter seemed closed.
We do not know who, Catherine Pgard, Christophe Leribault or the President of the Republic, requested a week of additional time.
Whatever the case, this appointment on February 21 puts an end to an incredible series.
Read alsoAt the head of the Palace of Versailles, Catherine Pgard hands over to Christophe Leribault
Appointed in 2011 by Nicolas Sarkozy, Catherine Pgard will have served three mandates under three different Presidents of the Republic.
And even three additional years of temporary work.
Since March 4, 2021, she has remained at the head of the public establishment even though her age - 69 years old - and the rules applicable to appointments - no more than three mandates - did not in principle allow her to continue.
It will therefore have remained for almost three years under a legal regime certainly provided for by the texts, but taken to its extreme - to the point that the Court of Auditors was moved, speaking of an "
unprecedented situation",
which could be
" considered a form of misuse of power.
As a matter of practice, the Court explained, the president is serving a fourth term, which is not provided for by the regulations.
The situation was all the more delicate as the administrator of Versailles had left the ship to join the National Maritime Museum in Paris.
During the big dinner given in Versailles for the 400th anniversary of the estate, in January, Catherine Pgard said, in private, that she had received the assurance of remaining in her post until the end of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, i.e. September 9.
Someone, if not the President of the Republic himself, must have given him some hope.
Unless the outgoing president does not want to face the facts?
She leaves to her successor a restored estate, with 106 reopened rooms, including the Galleries of the History of the castle, the Latona basin, the Coach gallery, the Grand apartment of the Queen, Maison de la Reine and recently, the fountain of Apollo.
In a press release, the Ministry of Culture specifies that it will be up to the new president
"to ensure the completion of fire safety work on the central body of the castle", a
major project which has caused cold sweats since the fire at Notre -Lady.
Christophe Leribault, 60, is leaving a museum of which he took charge in 2021. He is expected in Versailles on March 4.
It now remains to find his successor!