Is it nationality or the presidency that guides Francois Hollande’s romance?

The President of France is almost expected to have a racy life, given the romantic image his nation has the world over. The fact that Paris is considered the city of love makes it practically mandatory for them to do things differently there. With a predecessor who had three marriages and two divorces — including one of each while he was president — the current president, with no marriages but three “relationships”, can at least claim some sort of equivalence. Of course, one former French president had allegedly died in the arms of his amour a century ago, and the truth about a more recent incumbent’s mistress and love child was only revealed shortly before his death. So, Elysee Palace has hardly been a stranger to spicy political lifestyles.

Indeed, some may aver that the latest shenanigans dominating headlines in France add a contemporary twist to the famous dictum of the late Sir James Goldsmith, the flamboyant Anglo-French financier, that marrying a mistress creates a job vacancy: nuptials are not a prerequisite any more. That he could zip around to the alleged rendezvous by riding pillion on a scooter was probably conducive to presidential concupiscence. But politicians should note that this case also proves even the most minimal security detail can be a greater danger to dalliances than prying paparazzi.