If the disappearance of François Mitterrand dates back to thirty-five years ago, in 1996, the man who was born on October 26, 1916 continues to fascinate. A journalist from World, Solenn de Royer, is interested in a very atypical relationship of the former President of the Republic, which occurred at the end of his life, between 1988 and 1996. In The Last Secret published by Grasset editions, she recounts the idyll between a certain Claire and politics, which occurred at the end of her life. Although the age difference between the two people – fifty years! – haunts the reading of the article, their relationship is captivating. Especially when the young Claire has to face the irruption of the wife of the head of state during a meal, the day of his departure from the Elysée after the victory of Jacques Chirac.
The facts take place in 1995 and the state of health of the 79-year-old President Mitterrand worsens day by day. Claire is a law student and has been dating the French leader for more than ten years. During a lunch where he appears more tired than ever, alongside the young woman. It was then that the butler of the Elysée announced to him that the first lady of France and mother of his three children, Danielle Mitterrand, wished to join him. An embarrassing scene then unfolds…
“VSlary stiffened. It’s too late, Danielle has already entered. She settles in without a word for her, without a look. The couple evokes the fourteen years that have just passed, passed so quickly. (…) When Danielle leaves them, Mitterrand and Claire go and sit on the sofa for a while, but the president is exhausted, embarrassed by this meal for three which has just ended. He refuses to let Claire touch him, goes to lie down in his room, next door, before accompanying her”we read in the book The Last Secret.
François Mitterrand died on January 8, 1996 at the age of 79, following prostate cancer, in his company apartment at 9 avenue Frédéric-Le-Play, in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, a building where Anne Pingeot also resides. She was also one of his clandestine lovers and is the mother of the famous Mazarine.