French president Francois Hollande and girlfriend Valerie Trierweiler are set to marry ‘in the near future’, it was revealed. Presidential aides have been urging France’s first ever unmarried ‘first couple’ to wed quickly to avoid protocol problems on state visits to strict religious countries.
Their status may be viewed as ‘living in sin’ by hardline states like Saudi Arabia or The Vatican, advisors have warned. And the pair have now decided to bow to pressure and tie the knot, France’s Closer magazine reported.
It said today: ‘Members of Valerie’s family have confided in us to reveal that they are planning a happy event, and in the not too distant future’.
‘For her to become Mrs Hollande would clarify her status in the eyes of the French people and the world, though the president’s wife technically has no official status in our constitution.’
Hollande, 57, and Trierweiler 47, met 15 years ago at a political rally and have been a couple for five years.