France's 64-year-old new First Lady - who Macron fell in love with aged 15 while she was his drama teacher - will work for free in his government to plan new education reforms

• e-mail

Emmanuel Macron's ex-teacher wife Brigitte is anticipated to play a key role in the centrist's new government.

Mirroring a Michelle Obama approach to her first lady role, Brigitte Trogneux, 64, who is more than 24 years older than her husband, is reportedly keen to become involved in issues such as education.

With two decades more life experience than her husband and as the ex-teacher who has shaped his character since the age of 15, the grandmother of eight is expected to play an active role in the new government.

Pictured: French President elect Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Trogneux celebrate on the stage at his victory rally putside the Louvre in Paris

Pictured: Emmanuel Macron supporters celebrate outside the Louvre Museum in Paris as he is set to become France's youngest ever president

'Brigitte's main interest is education reform and she will concentrate on work for autistic and disadvantaged kids, out of the political firing line,' Candice Nedelec, co-author of a biography of the couple, told The Sunday Times.

When Mr Macron, 39, worked as finance minister under Francois Hollande, Mrs Trogneux was the person who oversaw her husband's diary and this role continued once he created En Marche!. She is also said to correct his speeches and act as an intermediary.

But once the Macrons move into the Elysee Palace, Mrs Trogneux who once said she would have preferred that her husband had gone on to become an author rather than work in politics, will reportedly have more on her plate including tasks, staff and a budget – but no salary.

By not paying his wife, Mr Macron could be trying to distance himself from the 'Penelopegate' scandal which heavily contributed to republican candidate Francois Fillon being wiped out of the election race.

Mr Fillon sensationally fell from grace when a French newspaper reported that he had paid his British wife Penelope hundreds of thousands for a job she never carried out.

The Macrons yesterday voted at the Le Touquet town hall, the place they had married 10 years before.

Mrs Trogneux is said to be interested in playing a role in education reform in her husband's new government. Left, blowing a kiss to supporters and right, on a walk with Mr Macron

Emmanuel Macron's ex-teacher wife Brigitte is anticipated to play a key role in the centrist's new government (both pictured)

The unconventional romance started after the pair met when Mr Macron starred in one of Mrs Trogneux's plays at Jesuit school Lycee La Providence in Amiens, northern France.

Mr Macron shared a classroom at a Catholic school with one of Mrs Trogneux's two daughters Laurence – who is also 39.

Journalist Anne Fulda, who interviewed Macron, his wife and both of his parents for a book about the politician, said they had been shocked to discover their teenage son, rather than pursuing her daughter, was pursuing Trogneux herself.

The pair also went on to re-write a play together, which they later admitted was the period when they fell in love. At the time, Mr Macron was just 16.

In an interview with Fulda, Mr Macron said: 'You know, the day we wrote that piece together, I had the impression I was working with Mozart.'

Speaking to French magazine Paris Match, she said: 'I could feel I was falling, he was too...', before adding: 'At 17, Emmanuel told me: 'Whatever you do, I will marry you!' Love took everything in its passage and lead me to divorce. It was impossible to resist him.'

Pictured: The Macrons vote at the Le Touquet town hall, the place they had married 10 years before

The Macrons' unconventional romance started after the pair met when Mr Macron starred in one of Mrs Trogneux's plays at Jesuit school Lycee La Providence in Amiens, northern France. Pictured, the pair together when Mr Macron was 15 years old in 1993

Ms Trogneux a mother-of-three, from a renowned bourgeois family in the town of Amiens, later left her banker husband Andre-Louis Auziere for her pupil - who had been in the same class as her daughter Laurence.

Two decades on, she is a crucial calming influence behind the former investment banker.

'Every night we debrief together and we repeat what we have heard about each other,' she told Paris Match.

'I have to pay attention to everything, do the maximum to protect him.'

Ms Trogneux ensures he has 'downtime' slots in his schedule, and also encourages Mr Macron to network with France's society crowd.

Mrs Trogneux is said to be a crucial calming influence behind her politician husband

According to radio network France Info, on Ms Trogneux's initiative, the couple have dined with French artists and comedians in a bid to gain popularity amongst the 'luvvie' set.

After the first round of the elections last month, Mr Macron was accused of acting as though he had 'already won' after he held a 'bling bling' dinner at Brasserie La Rotonde near his headquarters.

The event was attended by comedians, actors and singers.

Last night, Mr Macron's former teacher Christian Monjou, 67, said the former economy minister should be mindful of not looking like a 'mummy's boy'.

Describing one picture of the couple, which showed Ms Trogneux standing behind her husband, Mr Monjou, who taught the politician for three years, said: 'I think that picture was a little detrimental to his campaign because it tended to suggest that he was under the influence of somebody else.

Mrs Trogneux has shaped her husband's character since he was 15 and encourages him to network with France's society crowd

'In particular, of a mother-like figure and for a president of the republic, this was a little bit dangerous in terms of suggesting that he was not entirely autonomous. There is undoubtedly influence there but it is probably also a stabilising and comforting influence and that's very positive.'

Mr Monjou said of the fact that Mr Macron brought his wife on stage during his speech after winning the first round: 'When he asked her to come on stage some people were annoyed with that… A friend of mine wrote to me and said: 'We are not electing the first lady, we are electing the president'.

Mr Monjou, who is in regular contact with his former pupil, said he had warned him of appearing too under his wife's influence.

He said: 'For me, I have told him, we are not electing the first lady, we are electing the president. He must not appear to be a 'mummy's boy', there's a slight danger there...He never replies on that subject.'

The retired teacher added that he did not think Mr Macron would allow his wife to play too central a role in the government.

He said: 'I think he is possibly conscious of the danger there, I think he would understand there would be a risk, I think he would be conscious not to give into that vulnerability. Some people might pounce on that.' 

How Macron's parents warned his teacher, 39, to end affair with their then 16-year-old son - but the married mother of three refused

By Andrew Malone and Emily Kent Smith for Daily Mail 

On the first night of a play at an exclusive French Catholic school in Amiens, there was one obvious star. He was Emmanuel Macron, the son of two respected local doctors, and the 16-year-old was adored by staff for his work and intelligence.

One teacher beaming with admiration that night was a glamorous 39-year-old called Brigitte Auziere. Married with three children, she taught at Lycee La Providence, 90 miles north of Paris, where pupils can expect the finest pastoral care.

The teacher and her pupil had collaborated on the play — the Art Of Comedy, by the Italian writer Eduardo De Filippo — every Friday night for months at the school, adapting it for all the students who wanted parts.

They would work on the script late into the night. Neither had far to go home — the teacher to a house she shared nearby with her banker husband and children, while the pupil walked the short distance to his parents' home in an affluent part of Amiens.

Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte (pictured) addressed his adoring supporters outside the Louvre in central Paris last night just hours after he was elected the youngest French president 

Mr Macron shared a classroom at a Catholic school with one of Mrs Trogneux's two daughters Laurence Auziere-Jourdan – who is also 39. Laurence is pictured leaving the campaign headquarters of Mr Macron last night

It was only when the play was finally staged, in front of proud parents and family, that a glimpse emerged of what was the start of a love affair between Emmanuel and Brigitte.

For, as the audience clapped before the curtain came down, Emmanuel took a bow and kissed the watching Madame Auziere on each cheek as she smiled with obvious delight. 'Every Friday I went to write a play with her for several hours,' the schoolboy later revealed. 'We spoke about everything. And I discovered we had always known one another.'

As for Brigitte, whose eldest daughter Laurence — incredibly — was in the same class as Emmanuel, she was captivated by his 'exceptional intelligence'. She felt he was so gifted that it was as though 'I was working with Mozart'.

She even quizzed her daughter about her classmate, who told her he was bookish but engaging and charming, a man who 'knows everything' and seemed much older than his years.

The first sign other pupils had that the relationship was more than academic came during the play's closing party at a local restaurant, with one contemporary watching as the pair shared what he described, cryptically, as a 'tender moment'.

Almost 24 years later, this unlikely romance has made global headlines when pupil and teacher, now husband and wife, celebrated victory in the French presidential elections.  

French president-elect Emmanuel Macron (left) celebrates with his wife Brigitte Trogneux (third from right), her granddaughter (four from right), Brigitte's daughter Tiphaine Auziere (scecond from right) and Tiphaine's husband Antoine Choteau (right) on stage at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris last night

After Macron's first round victory in April, he and Brigitte headed for the historic La Rotonde restaurant, where they celebrated until the early hours.

There, the oddity of his family was evident as the 39-year-old and his wife, now 64, hosted a party for close supporters, with champagne and oysters served on ice. With them under the Art Deco chandeliers were Brigitte's three children, one of whom, son Sebastien, is two years older than his stepfather.

Intriguingly, also present at the party was Macron's mother, Francoise, 67, who is only three years older than her daughter-in-law, and who was, understandably, bitterly opposed to her son's relationship with his teacher at the start.

Indeed, the prospect of such a close gathering seemed unlikely when the schoolboy and his teacher began their unconventional romance.

Local gossip about the 'close friendship' between Emmanuel and the teacher had spread after they were spotted walking home from school together after working on the play.

Brigitte was always quick to praise Emmanuel. 'She was captivated by his writing talents,' one friend said. 'He wrote poems and she read them out in front of everyone.'

Macron's parents — a neurologist and a paediatrician — were not happy on hearing these rumours.

Hoping it was just a passing teenage obsession, they decided to bide their time. But their suspicions intensified when Emmanuel told them he was going to see a friend in Amiens — only for them to discover he had spent time with Mme Auziere again.

They hoped he would start a relationship with a girl of their acquaintance who was his own age, whose parents were also doctors and friends with the Macrons, and even invited her over to the family home, where Emmanuel lived with his younger brother and sister.

'I told myself it would pass,' his father Jean-Michel Macron told the respected journalist Anne Fulda, who has just published an explosive new French book about the affair — Emmanuel Macron: Such A Perfect Young Man. 'Emmanuel did, after all, have studies to finish — to not ruin everything.'

But he showed no interest in the girl to whom they had introduced him, or in any of his teenage contemporaries.

Brigitte Trogneux, alongside her daughter Tiphaine Auziere, listens to her husband Emmanuel Macron during a campaign speech in January

Soon afterwards, Emannuel's mother raised with her son the delicate issue of his relationship, concerned that he would never be able to have children due to the age gap. 'We couldn't believe it,' she told one interviewer. 'What is clear is that when Emmanuel met Brigitte we couldn't just say: "That's great." '

According to the new book, Macron's parents decided to confront Brigitte and tell her to end the affair — or at least wait until their son was 18.

At this uncomfortable meeting in Amiens, Francoise told Brigitte: 'You already have your life, [but] he won't have children.' In tears, the teacher — the youngest daughter of a wealthy, respected family of chocolatiers and confectioners — sobbed that she 'could not promise anything'.

At their wits' end, and concerned that the relationship would ruin his schooling, Emmanuel's parents took drastic action — and effectively sent their son away to keep he and Brigitte apart.

The boy's father telephoned the headmistress of a prestigious school in Paris called the Henry IV, and explained that he had a matter of great sensitivity to discuss, which would require absolute discretion.

According to sources at the school, the headmistress agreed that Emmanuel could finish his schooling there and prepare for university in Paris, where he was to live in a flat owned by his family. At the same time, Mr and Mrs Macron decided not to complain to the police about the teacher's relationship with their son. The age of consent is 15, but 18 for those involved with teachers or carers.

In making this decision they were perhaps mindful of the story of an infamous affair between a teacher and her pupil.

Surprisingly, Macron is on good terms with his 'step-children', including Laurence Auziere-Jourdan (left next to her mother), the girl with whom he shared a class. Brigitte's other daughter Tiphaine (right), 30, now works as a campaign manager for Macron

Gabrielle Russier, 32, a professor of literature, was jailed in December 1968 for one year after she began an affair with a 16-year-old pupil called Christian Rossi, and Mr Rossi's parents went to the police when they found out about the relationship.

In 1969, out of jail and awaiting further legal proceedings, Mrs Russier gassed herself. 'We loved each other,' a tearful Mr Rossi said. 'They put her in prison, she killed herself. Passion isn't lucid.'

Yet the schemes of Emmanuel Macron's parents were to end in failure — and the romance continued after the teenager moved to Paris. He would take the 90-minute train home to Amiens each weekend, and tried to arrange secretly to meet Brigitte when she wasn't looking after her three young children.

Andre-Louis Auziere, Brigitte's husband, worked long hours for an international French bank. Brigitte and Emmanuel would meet at one of her wealthy family's homes, and the two were once discovered chatting round a swimming pool by Brigitte's brother. Emmanuel's new friends soon heard that he had been involved in a 'scandal'. Cecile Falcon, 39, studied with him in Paris. 'I knew [about the affair] from when he moved to Paris,' she told the Mail.

'We knew he was with his teacher but we didn't know where [the school was], her age, her name. He was very discreet.'

Emmanuel's troubles were nothing compared to those of Brigitte. The indulged youngest of six, she was born in 1953 into the Trogneux family, who for six generations had run their confectionery business in northern France.

They made their fortune selling macaroons; sweet treats made from almonds, honey and egg whites. Her father was a pillar of respectability, a regular churchgoer and a member of the local rotary club. Young Brigitte was a fun-loving, artistic child, who privately dreaded the thought of working in the family firm and spending her life selling macaroons. Instead, she loved literature and the arts.

The president-elect celebrated with his wife Brigitte (third from right) and her granddaughter (pictured receiving a kiss from Macron) on stage after he convincingly defeated far-right Marine Le Pen in the tense election

During a trip to the seaside town of Le Touquet, where her family had a holiday home, she met an exotic man called Andre-Louis Auziere, who was born in Cameroon, the French colony in west Africa, where his father worked as a diplomat.

He had returned to France to study and had started what would prove a successful career in banking, which would later see him hold senior executive positions. At 23, he was two years older than Brigitte, who was still a student.

Brigitte, 21, and Andre married in the local town hall in 1974, the same year that Emmanuel's parents were married, and by the time she was 26 she had three young children. She wanted for nothing financially.

By all accounts, family life was pleasant enough. In 1984, the couple moved with their children from Amiens to Strasbourg, when Andre got a promotion. They returned to Amiens in 1991, when, with the children now at school, Brigitte began teaching at La Providence.

By the time Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron had become emotionally entangled, and he had been dispatched to Paris, attempts to keep the news of the friendship quiet had proven impossible.

According to one account, Brigitte's elder brother, who had taken over the family business after their father died, furiously warned her off.

What her husband made of this is not clear: to this day, he has never spoken about the events that tore his family apart. All that is known is that Brigitte and Andre were formally divorced in 2006.

Sylvie Bommel, a French journalist who has carried out investigations into the Macrons, says that Brigitte's former husband was so scarred by the break-up that he did not even attend his mother's funeral in case his ex-wife came.

'He's a man who no longer wants to be found after what happened,' she told me. 'It must have been a real shock to see your wife leave for someone very young.'

Brigitte moved to Paris before the divorce was finalised, where she took up a teaching position at another Catholic school, meaning she could be closer to Macron.

'I think Brigitte left to escape the gossip,' said one former colleague. 'Both Macron and Brigitte leaving was the best solution.

There were jubilant scenes in Paris last night as it emerged that Emmanuel Macron had won a resounding victory over Le Pen

By the time their son was 18, Emmanuel's mother and father had given up trying to persuade him to find someone his age.

Indeed, less than 21 months after her divorce was granted, Brigitte wore a short white dress to wed for a second time at the same town hall in Le Touquet where she married her first husband. She was 54; her groom, 29.

After their wedding in 2007, the couple — who call each other by the pet names 'Manu' and 'Bibi' — now live in Paris. After a career as a banker and an economic minister, Macron announced his intention only last year to stand as a candidate in the elections.

Surprisingly, Macron is on good terms with his 'step-children', including Laurence, the girl with whom he shared a class. Even more galling for ex-husband Andre-Louis Auziere, his younger daughter Tiphaine, 30, now works as a campaign manager for Macron. She says 'they get on so beautifully their age difference has never caused me a problem'.

So will any of this peculiarly French affair damage the man described as the country's equivalent of Tony Blair? There has always been a laissez-faire approach here to the sexual antics of politicians.

Francois Hollande was separated from his partner, Valerie Trierweiler, after being caught having an affair with an actress 18 years his junior, while his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy famously ditched his wife to marry model-turned-singer Carla Bruni.

Emmanuel Macron's English teacher from his school in Paris, Christian Monjou, who remains a mentor, believes his decision to continue the relationship with Brigitte made him the man he is today. 'He wanted to prove to his parents that he had made the right choices,' he told the Mail. 'And he's now proving to his wife that she made the correct decision to leave her husband.'

But M. Monjou warned that Emmanuel must not appear to voters as a 'mummy's boy'; after his victory speech he invited Brigitte on stage, only for someone to say: 'You would have never seen [Charles] de Gaulle do that.'

Certainly, Macron has no regrets about his teenaged coup de foudre. In a social media exchange with voters this week, he was asked by a student for his advice after 'falling for my criminal law teacher'.

With a smug smile, Macron responded: 'You need to know if it is mutual. If that is the case, go for it! No taboos!' Time will soon tell if the people of France agree.