Bernadette Chirac was widely seen as being in the shadow of her husband

Paris (France) (AFP) - Bernadette Chirac, widow of former French president Jacques Chirac and known as the loyal companion of one of France’s key postwar politicians, died at the age of 93, their daughter told AFP Saturday.

She “passed away peacefully surrounded by her family in the evening,” on Friday, said Claude Chirac. Bernadette Chirac had just turned 93 on May 18, she added.

She was seen as being in the shadow of her charismatic husband, who served as president from 1995-2007, a term during which he famously opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq. Jacques Chirac died in 2019.

She also stood by her late husband despite his notorious romantic affairs, something both referred to in their memoirs.

But Bernadette Chirac was also the only French first lady to have held political office in her own right, as a general councillor in the central Correze department, a position she held continuously from 1979 to 2015.

Her discretion and immaculate turnout also made Bernadette into something of an icon herself. In 2023 French screen legend Catherine Deneuve starred in a film about her years as first lady called simply “Bernadette”.

President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Bernadette Chirac as a “great woman of heart” who “left her mark on our history” and “changed so many lives with discretion and determination.”

She also impacted “the Correze region where she was an elected representative, and also the lives of millions of anonymous patients, thanks to her deep and constant commitment” as head of a hospitals foundation, he wrote on X.