Brigitte Marie-Claude Macron (; Trogneux , previously Auzière ; born 13 April 1953) is a French former teacher and wife of
Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
, the incumbent
president of France
The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the po ...
.
Early life
Brigitte Macron was born Brigitte Marie-Claude Trogneux in
Amiens
Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...
, France. She is the youngest of six children
of Simone (''née'' Pujol; 1910–1998) and Jean Trogneux (1909–1994), the owners of the five-generation
Chocolaterie Trogneux,
founded in 1872 in Amiens.
The company, later known as
Jean Trogneux,
is run by her nephew, Jean-Alexandre Trogneux.
She was raised in a
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
household. She attended the private Catholic school, Lycée du Sacré-Cœur, in Amiens.
[.]
Career
Macron, at the time Brigitte Auzière, taught literature at the Collège Lucie-Berger in
Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
in the 1980s.
By the 1990s, she was teaching French and Latin at
Lycée la Providence, a
Jesuit
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
high school in
Amiens
Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...
.
From 2007 to 2015, she taught at
Lycée Saint-Louis de Gonzague,
in the
16th arrondissement of
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, one of the most prestigious French private schools. At that institution, she was the French teacher of Frédéric and Jean Arnault, sons of French luxury business tycoon
Bernard Arnault.
It was at the after-school drama club of Lycée la Providence where she and Emmanuel Macron first met. She was in charge of the after-school theater club he attended when he was 15 alongside her own daughter Laurence who was in his class. Their relationship has attracted controversy, as she is his senior by close to 25 years, and he was a minor; Macron has described it as "a love often clandestine, often hidden, misunderstood by many before imposing itself".
Politics
In 1989, Brigitte Macron (then Auzière) unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the city council of
Truchtersheim.
It was the only time she ran for office.
In 2017, Brigitte Macron played an active role in her husband's presidential campaign; a top adviser was quoted as saying that "her presence is essential for him".
During his campaign, Emmanuel Macron stated that upon his winning of the
French presidency, his wife would "have the role that she always had, she will not be hidden".
He proposed creating an official "
first lady" () title (as the spouse of the French president currently holds no official title) coming with their own staff, office and a personally allocated budget for their activities. Following Macron's election as president and his previously outspoken stance against
nepotism
Nepotism is the act of granting an In-group favoritism, advantage, privilege, or position to Kinship, relatives in an occupation or field. These fields can include business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, religion or health care. In ...
, a
petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication.
In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to an officia ...
against his proposal gathered more than 275,000 signatures, and the
French government
The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...
announced that Brigitte Macron would not hold the official title of "first lady" and would not be allocated an official budget. In an interview with French magazine ''
Elle
Elle may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Elle (magazine), ''Elle'' (magazine), a fashion publication
** Elle Style Awards
* Elle (India), ''Elle'' (India), the Indian edition
* Elle (film), ''Elle'' (film), a 2016 French film
* ''Elle: ...
'', she stated that a soon-to-be published transparency charter would clarify her "role and accompanying resources", including the composition and size of her staff. This charter was published the following Friday.
Public image
Macron's style of dress at international meetings has been a subject of commentary. The ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'' described her style as similar to that of an "
Essex girl". Close to
Bernard Arnault's family, she was dressed for free by
Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton Malletier SAS, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton (designer), Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its products, ...
during her official outings, which created controversy.
In May 2025, Macron was filmed shoving her hand in her husband Emmanuel's face, which he described as "joking around".
Complaints
In March 2018, the office of the Élysée Palace filed a complaint for identity theft after discovering that Brigitte Macron's name was being used to obtain preferential treatment in luxury establishments through a false email address. According to the office, the complaint was related to "a very clear attempt to harm
rigitte Macron'sreputation". In October 2021, a 35-year-old man who claimed to be Brigitte Macron's nephew was sentenced to 30 months in prison, 18 of which were suspended, for identity theft, attempted fraud, and fraud as a repeat offender.
In August 2020, during the presidential couple's vacation at the
Fort de Brégançon,
yellow vest protesters gathered on a nearby beach and launched several inflatable lobsters, one of which bore insults directed at the "First Lady". On 30 September, before the Toulon Criminal Court, one of the protesters was tried for "public insult to the President of the Republic" and "public insult and defamation of individual(s)". According to
''Var-Matin'', the case was dismissed due to a procedural defect. Lawyer
Juan Branco argued that an employee of the Élysée Palace filed the complaint without a mandate and in the absence of Brigitte Macron's signature, leading the court to accept the nullity plea based on the provisions of the law of 29 July 1881, on freedom of the press.
On 22 August 2018,
Thierry-Paul Valette filed a complaint against Brigitte Macron at the Lisieux police station as part of the transparency charter. The grounds for the complaint were the offenses of passive influence peddling, passive corruption, and complicity in a passive conflict of interest by a person charged with a public service mission. The case was closed without further action in August 2019.
Brigitte Macron's image has also been illegally exploited by several scammers online, who used it to sell and promote anti-wrinkle creams, falsely claiming she was the muse or creator of these products.
Personal life
On 22 June 1974, Brigitte married banker André-Louis Auzière (1951–2019),
[
] with whom she had three children (Sébastien, born 1975;
Laurence
Laurence is in modern use as an English masculine and a French feminine given name. The modern English masculine name is a variant of Lawrence and originates from a French form of the Latin ''Laurentius'', a name meaning "man from Laurentum" ...
, born 1977; and Tiphaine, born 1984).
They resided in
Truchtersheim until 1991, when they moved to Amiens.
In 1993, at the age of 39, she met the 15-year-old
Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
in
La Providence High School, where she was a teacher and he was a student and a classmate of her daughter. Brigitte divorced Auzière in January 2006 and married Macron on 20 October 2007.
She defines herself as a non-practicing Catholic.
Honours
Foreign honours
* :
** Grand Cross of the
Order of the Dannebrog
The Order of the Dannebrog () is a Denmark, Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V of Denmark, Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the Order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single cla ...
(28 August 2018)
** Grand Cross with Breast Star in Diamonds of the
Order of the Dannebrog
The Order of the Dannebrog () is a Denmark, Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V of Denmark, Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the Order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single cla ...
(31 March 2025)
* : Grand Cross of the
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic () is the most senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of Italy, President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi.
The highest-ranking honour of the Republi ...
(1 July 2021)
* : Commander of the
Order of the Ivory Coast (21 December 2019)
* : Grand Cross of the
Order of Grimaldi (7 June 2025)
* : Member Grand Cross of the
Order of the Polar Star
The Royal Order of the Polar Star (Swedish language, Swedish: ''Kungliga Nordstjärneorden''), sometimes translated as the Royal Order of the North Star, is a Swedish order of chivalry created by Frederick I of Sweden, King Frederick I on 23 F ...
(30 January 2024)
References
External links
*
Charte de transparence relative au statut du conjoint du Chef de l’État Presidency of the French Republic, 2017
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macron, Brigitte
1953 births
Living people
People from Amiens
Brigitte
French schoolteachers
Spouses of presidents of France
Brigitte
20th-century French educators
21st-century French educators
20th-century French women
21st-century French women
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Grimaldi