Segolene Royal is a well-known woman politician who shares the views of the French socialists. Therefore, she participated in the elections and held government posts when this party came to power. It can be said that Segolin represents a new generation of socialists. She has always spoken out against various forms of violence and oppression, especially regarding women's rights. Segolin is the author of many books that the French read with pleasure, and some of them have been reprinted several times. Her relationship with the country's current president, François Hollande, has often been the subject of speculation and rumors.
Childhood
Segolene Royal was born in West Africa, in Senegal, which at that time belonged to France. It was at the Wakam military base, near Dakar, in September 1963. They named the girl Marie-Segolene. Her father was a retired artillery officer, Jacques Royal. Segolene's parents had five sons and three daughters. Father of the future star of the political arena of Francewas conservative and believed that girls should marry well and devote themselves to a career as a housewife. He beat his wife until she left him. From early childhood, Ségolène strongly disagreed with her father. After leaving school, she entered the local university and received a degree in economics there. Then, with the help of her older sister, the girl was able to pass the entrance exams to the Paris Institute of Political Sciences, where she discovered socialist ideology and feminism. The students of this educational institution were 85% rich male Parisians, and an applicant from the provinces looked like a black sheep there.
Youth
Segolene Royal, whose biography is the subject of our interest in this article, in 1972, with the support of her sisters and brothers, filed a lawsuit against her father, motivating the claim by the fact that the latter did not consent to a divorce from their mother, so as not to pay alimony. Therefore, it was difficult for children to get higher education. She won the process shortly before the death of Jacques Royal. Segolene Royal continued her education at the National School of Administration, like most of today's French politicians. There she was a classmate of François Hollande, who became her unofficial husband for the next thirty years. In 1978 Segolene joined the Socialist Party. She also dropped her first name "Marie" because she thought her father called her that to emphasize the traditional role of women in the family.
Career start
In 1980 SegolinRoyal graduated from the National School and began working as an advisor to the administrative court. Then Francois Mitterrand noted her abilities and appointed the young woman as a special adviser to the president. She held this position until 1988. Mitterrand greatly appreciated Segolene and insisted that she take part in the parliamentary elections from the party. She ran for a small rural district in Poitou-Charentes, in the French political tradition of "parachuting" when a promising candidate is nominated from the provinces to test their abilities. And although the area was populated by Catholic and Protestant conservatives, she managed to win. After that, she represented the region De Sèvres in the National Assembly three more times.
Minister and Governor
Segolene Royal, whose photo you see as an illustration to the article, also tried herself in an administrative career. In 1992-1993, she was the Minister of the Environment, in 1997-2000 she was the head of French school education, and in 2000-2001, the department for families, youth and people with disabilities. The population of the province of Poitou-Charentes, despite the difference in political views, appreciated her activities so highly that in 2004 a woman politician was elected head of this area. And this despite the fact that her rival was the current Prime Minister J. Rafarren, a native of these places. Until that time, she was considered just one of many female politicians and was not seen as a serious contender. But after polls among members of the left movements, when it turned out that 91% sympathizeRoyal, she began to cause fear among the party elite.
Presidential ambitions
Segolene Royal openly stated that her opponents are afraid of her. They fear that she will take their place. This especially intensified during the presidential campaign before the 2007 elections. It was then that Segolene decided to run for head of state. Indeed, the statements of fellow party members addressed to a colleague were often not just critical, but even sexist. Laurent Fabus and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who were her rivals, were caustically interested in who will look after the children and the house when a woman politician goes to the presidency? Perhaps it was this purely male neglect that provided Segolene with massive popularity and voter support. However, she failed to defeat the then right-wing candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy. Inside her own party, she was constantly put sticks in her wheels. In 2008, she was removed from the post of secretary of the movement, and in 2012, her former common-law husband, Francois Hollande, became the candidate for the presidency.
Segolene Royal: personal life
A student of the National School of Administration met her future chosen one at one of the parties during her studies. Both socialists never married (considering it too "bourgeois") and did not register their union even as a civil one. During the relationship of the two politicians, they had four children. All of them were brought up by Segolene Royal. The children of a famous socialist - two sons and 2 daughters: Thomas, Julien, Clemens andFlora. Segolene often used her family life for political publicity. The press often covered her next pregnancy, and her photographs with a baby in her arms did not leave the pages of popular magazines such as Pari Match. The children bear the father's surname, but the elders help the mother in politics. So, Thomas Hollande, who is studying to be a lawyer, was Segolene's adviser during the presidential election campaign. The French press also often noted the taste and style with which the politician dresses. Segolene Royal and Hollande broke up for a simple reason - the future president cheated on her with one journalist. Then the partner simply kicked her common-law husband out of the house without further ado.
Segolene Royal now
The famous socialist hasn't changed much. She supports the rights of immigrants, defends women, still considers Sarkozy "dangerous" for France. Her relationship with Hollande softened. Evil tongues said that their divorce was also due to the fact that the current president of the country became one of the reasons for her defeat in the elections for the post of head of the party. But in 2014, Hollande invited her to take the post of Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, and she did not refuse. Segolene has been a vocal supporter of same-sex marriage and has been leading the movement for more humane prison conditions since 2007.
