Our new biography of French politician Emmanuel Macron is now live. He and Marine Le Pen face each other in a runoff on May 7; the winner will replace Francois Hollande as the next president of France.
Emmanuel Macron is a former protegé of Hollande; he helped Hollande get elected in 2012, then served as his senior advisor. In 2014, Macron moved up to the job of Minister of the Economy and Finance. Two years later, he started his own political movement called En Marche! (“Forward!” or “On the Move!”) and launched his own run for president.
A fascinating sidelight to the Emmanuel Macron story: he married his high school French teacher. The New York Times sets the stage:
Mr. Macron and his wife met when he was a 15-year-old 10th grader at a Jesuit high school in Amiens, and Ms. Trogneux was a 40-year-old married mother of three children, one of whom was in Mr. Macron’s class… Their relationship turned romantic when Mr. Macron, then in 11th grade, persuaded her to write a play with him… Mr. Macron left to spend his senior year in Paris at the prestigious Lycée Henri-IV. Before leaving home, he reportedly promised his teacher: “You won’t get rid of me. I will return and I will marry you.”
Those French! They’ve been married since 2007. As of today, polls give him a 61% chance of defeating Le Pen and becoming the next president of France.
See our full Emmanuel Macron biography »