OLD men marrying young women has been a staple of comedy for millennia. Plautus, Chaucer, Molière, Beaumarchais have all ploughed this furrow, sometimes more than once. Old women marrying young men is occasion for tragedy. Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex doesn’t end well. It’s terribly unfair: old woman with young man seems just as ripe for comedy.
This was not the attitude of the French press when Emmanuel Macron ascended to the presidency. They wrote gushing articles about how beautiful, elegant and fragrant was his wife, 24 years his senior.
Madame Brigitte Auzière (as she then was) first set eyes on the young Macron when she was 39 and he was 15. Her daughter Laurence was one of his classmates. In due course she divorced her banker (or just bank manager) husband and married the up-and-coming Rothschild banker. Their romance endures, except when she gives him a slap from time to time.
Most French merely shrugged at an age gap that was wider than the Hellespont, but some weren’t happy. Natacha Rey, a middle-aged woman, started posting to her half-dozen followers on Facebook that, contrary to all evidence, Brigitte Macron was a man.
This ludicrous allegation might have stayed in the most obscure corner of social media had Amandine Roy (no relation, confusing homonym) a popular online necromancer/medium, not invited Rey on to her YouTube show. The canard grew wings and flew into a thousand email boxes.
Wise counsels might have advised ignoring this lèse-majesté, but the Macrons decided to sue. The case was heard in 2021 and the gossip-mongers were fined €8,000, a sum sufficient to cover about a fortnight of the First Lady’s taste in designer gear. For reasons too tedious to relate, Mme Macron’s brother was also awarded €5,000.
The canard became an internet meme. So the Macrons have again gone to court against ten people accused of sexist cyber-bullying in a case currently being heard in Paris. No doubt the result will be another small payday.
However, by this time the canard had flown across the Atlantic and was taken up by the usual fruitloops. Candace Owens, a black Republican activist with a huge online audience, repeatedly aired it on her show. Again, the Macrons have instructed lawyers, this time in Washington DC.
But here is where comedy might turn to tragedy. In European countries, the author of the libel is obliged to prove truth of the allegation to avoid damages. In the US, the plaintiff (she who has been libelled) has to prove the falsity of the allegation. Further, it must be proven that the lie was spread with malicious intent.
This could get awkward. Owens’s defence team will undoubtedly demand an independent medical examination to confirm that Mme Macron is indeed a woman, but it is likely that humiliating details of the exam will be leaked across the internet. As for proving malicious intent, good luck. Jokes and satire are protected by the First Amendment. A defence that no reasonable person would take the idea seriously might alone be sufficient to scupper the whole case.
The verdict could go one of four ways. The judge throws the case out. The jury throws the case out. The jury finds for the plaintiff and awards $1 in damages. The jury finds for the plaintiff and awards a penalty that would bankrupt Owens. The first three are essentially defeat. The fourth, total victory for M et Mme Macron, is not the way to bet.
The Macrons may protest that they are embarking on this trial to defend the honour of France. But the French don’t care. Emmanuel ain’t no Leander, and Brigitte ain’t no Hero. Macron has an abyssal approval rating, worse even than Starmer or Merz. His wife, a political activist all her adult life (she lost one or two elections in her youth), fares little better. Ordinary people still haven’t forgiven her for ordering €650,000 worth of flowers for the Elysée Palace during the covid lockdown.
The calumny that a prominent political female is male isn’t even new. Joan of Arc was similarly accused. Recently Jacinda Ardern and Michelle Obama have endured the same nonsense. Wisely they ignored it and did not go to law. The lesson is clear: if you are in public life, grow a thick skin or grow a pair.
