Segolen Royal is a well-known female 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. We can say that Segolen represents a new generation of socialists. She has always opposed various forms of violence and oppression, especially with regard to women's rights. Segolen 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 current president of the country, François Hollande, often became the subject of speculation and rumor.
Childhood
Segolen Royal was born in West Africa, in Senegal, which at that time belonged to France. It was at the Uakam military base, near Dakar, in September 1963. They called the girl Marie Segolen. Her father was a retired artillery officer, Jacques Royal. Segolen's parents had five sons and three daughters. The father of the future star of the political arena of France was conservative and believed that girls should successfully marry and devote themselves to the career of a housewife. He beat his wife until she left him. From early childhood, Segolen was strongly disagree with his father. After leaving school, she entered a local university and received an economics degree there. Then, with the help of her older sister, the girl was able to pass entrance exams at 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 the university entrant looked like a black sheep there.
Youth
Segolen Royal, whose biography in this article is the subject of our interest, filed a lawsuit against her father in 1972 with the support of her sisters and brothers, arguing that the latter did not agree to divorce their mother in order not to pay child support. Therefore, it was difficult for children to get higher education. She won the process shortly before the death of Jacques Royal. Segolen Royal continued her education at the National School of Administration, like most current French politicians. There she was a classmate of Francois Hollande, who became her unofficial husband for the next thirty years. In 1978, Segolen joined the Socialist Party. She also refused the first name "Marie" because she believed that her father named her so as to emphasize the traditional role of women in the family.
Carier start
In 1980, Segolen Royal graduated from the National School and began working as an adviser to the administrative court. Then, Francois Mitterrand noted her abilities and appointed the young woman as special adviser to the president. In this position, she worked until 1988. Mitterrand greatly appreciated Segolen and insisted that she take part in the parliamentary elections from the party. She ran for a small rural area in Poitou Charentes, as is customary in the French political tradition of “parachuting,” when a promising candidate is nominated from the province to test their abilities. And although the area was inhabited by Catholic and Protestant conservatives, she managed to win. After that, she represented the De-Sevres region three more times in the National Assembly.
Minister and Governor
Segolen Royal, whose photo you see as an illustration of the article, has tried herself in the administrative career. In 1992-1993 she was the Minister of the Environment, in 1997-2000 she headed the school education in France, and in 2000-2001 she headed the Department for Family, Youth and People with Disabilities. The population of the province of Poitou-Charentes, despite the difference in political views, praised her activities so highly that in 2004 a woman politician was elected head of this field. 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 women politicians, and she was not considered a serious rival. But after surveys among members of the left movements, when it turned out that 91% sympathized with Royal, she began to cause fear among the party elite.
Presidential Ambition
Segolen Royal stated openly that her opponents were afraid of her. They fear that she will take their place. This was especially intensified during the presidential campaign before the 2007 elections. It was then that Segolen decided to run for president. Indeed, the statements of party members addressed to a colleague were often not just critical, but even sexist. Laurent Fabius and Dominic Strauss-Kahn, who were her rivals, were keenly interested, who will look after the children and the house when a woman politician becomes president? Perhaps it was this purely masculine neglect that ensured Segolen's massive popularity and support for voters. However, she failed to defeat the then right-wing candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy. Inside her own party, they constantly put sticks into the wheels. In 2008, she was removed from the post of secretary of the movement, and in 2012, her former common-law husband, François Hollande, became the candidate for president.
Segolen Royal: personal life
A student of the National School of Administration met her future elect at one of the parties while studying. Both socialists never married (considering it too "bourgeois") and did not register their union even as a civil one. During the connection of the two politicians, they had four children. All of them were brought up by Segolen Royal. The children of the famous socialist are two sons and 2 daughters: Thomas, Julien, Clemens and Flora. Segolen often used her family life for political advertising. The press often covered her next pregnancy, and her photographs of the baby in her arms did not leave the pages of popular magazines such as the Paris Match. Children bear the surname of the father, but the elders help in the policy of the mother. So, Thomas Hollande, who is a lawyer, was an adviser to Segolen during the presidential election campaign. The French press also often noted the taste and style with which the politician dresses. Segolen Royal and Hollande separated for a simple reason - the future president cheated on her with one journalist. Then the partner simply put the civil husband out of the house without unnecessary ceremonies.
Segolen Royal now
The famous socialist has not changed much. She supports the rights of immigrants, protects women, and 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 election for the party’s head. But in 2014, Hollande invited her to take the post of Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, and she did not refuse. Segolen actively supported gay marriage, and since 2007 has led the movement for more humane prison conditions.