quote:
Originally posted by Elexina:
FredPuli: That is why I much preferred living in France.
Yes, to take the two most recent Presidents of France:
One was known as 'three minutes including the shower' by the female personnel of government ofices in the rue de Lille. His driver gave an account, in his own memoirs, of the frequency with which his employer had him wait outside whilst the President indulged his , um, instincts at a variety of addresses over the years.That was President Chirac, who had a colourful and wide range of 'conquests' if conquest is the word.It's said that he was not to be found, that is not to be found where he was supposed to have been (
),the night Princess Diana died.
Another had a mistress, reportedly given the security appropriate to a mistress of a head of state,by whom he had a daughter. She is now a grown woman. The President did not publicly announce her existence until the year before he was due to retire. That was President Mitterrand (who was succeeded by Chirac).
Neither man paid for sex. The French
would worry if their President could not attract women, including top class and glamorous women, who'd have sex with him for free !They'd wonder what was wrong with him, think him extraordinarily feeble, unfit for office (but only for that reason, not the sex or the prostitution)
.They accept, and expect, that women would go to the most powerful man in France. Whether he takes up the offers, or pursues any, is a matter for him.
The present incumbent, Sarkozy (who succeeded Chirac), has started promisingly.So far, he was the mayor who presided over the marriage of a woman whom he fancied. She eventually divorced and married him. She survived until the election (not bothering to vote for him in it) but was herself left in favour of a younger model (literally: the new wife was a model but is better known as a singer) whom he married almost immediately after becoming President (honestly, Giuliani is a complete beginner by comparison). We don't know if he has 'cheated' (as Americans say:I don't know that French has such a pejorative word) yet, but give it time.The country expects it of him.He is the
President, after all.
By the way, Carla Bruni, as she then was, told the serious newspaper 'Le Figaro' "Monogamy bores me terribly. I'd much prefer polygamy or polyandry". That was a few months before marrying Sarkozy (it may be that she hadn't met him then, the romance being reportedly rapid, but it does show promise, doesn't it?)
The French do have privacy laws. The penalties, if anyone invokes them, are generally very light. It's in their culture that they don't bother about, or concern themselves with, such matters.Were it otherwise the French tabloids and the man's political opponents would have all the history leaked and the story worldwide news. But, there are no votes in it. Nothing would be gained (apart from great puzzlement in the populace)
Note:The Collins and Robert Dictionary gives 'tromper' for 'cheat on (somebody)'.It's a word which has the primary meaning given of 'to fool' or 'to deceive'
. That's the best the dictionary can do,not
quite the same as 'cheat'
.
