The announcement of François Hollande’s marriage to Julie Gayet on June 4, 2022 in Tulle in Corrèze refers to his relationship with Ségolène Royal, – the mother of his four children Thomas, Elise, Julien and Flora -, with whom he never been married. However, the former minister was not against the idea and had even spoken about it in front of the cameras alongside the one who was still her companion at the time.
It was in 2006 that Ségolène Royal tackled the question of marriage, in front of the TF1 cameras for the show Sagas. She was at the time preparing for the 2007 presidential elections.”We are not hostile at all to marriage. Things happened like that, the children came, we were together, we are still together. We love each other. I’m waiting for François to ask me in marriage“, had declared the woman politician, adding then: “François, will you marry me?“
François Hollande’s reaction was slightly embarrassing, smiling with a hint of embarrassment. Ségolène Royal then reacted with humor: “See, he still hesitates…“The one who was then president of the PS replied:”No, that’s not what I mean… I’ll answer you after the show.“If the scene could be light, a few months later, the couple officially separated after the presidential elections during which Ségolène Royal lost in the second round against Nicolas Sarkozy.
In June 2007, she announced that she and her partner had separated, on a date she refused to specify, in a book entitled Behind the scenes of a defeat. She told Reuters that “this disclosure was made this evening despite my opposition by certain media. I regret it“. “I made no statement this evening (…) I did not want to announce it this evening in the middle of the legislative election”, she insisted. The formalization of the separation “should only be done in the middle of the week. Accordingly, a joint press release will be issued on Monday morning“. In his book lessons of power (2018), François Hollande returned to his non-marriage with Ségolène Royal: “We weren’t married. We had four children and this family commitment was worth all the scrolls.“