“She died in the evening, peacefully, surrounded by her loved ones. She had just celebrated her 93rd birthday,” the diary of the daughter of the former first lady Claude Chirac quotes.
Le Parisien reported that the former French first lady had not appeared in public for a long time, and her health had weakened already in 2019, when former president Jacques Chirac died.
Active in politics and charity
Bernadette Chirac, born Chodron de Courcel, was born on May 18, 1933 in Paris. She married the future president in 1956. She was politically active herself. In 1971, she was a member of the municipal council in Sarran, and six years later she was deputy mayor in the same town. She became the first lady in 1995 and was until 2007.
She also spearheaded several charity projects, the most famous being the Opération Pièces Jaunes campaign, a collection of small donations to support children’s hospitals, and the Fondation Hôpitaux de Paris-Hôpitaux de France, which aims to improve the daily lives of patients, their families and hospital workers.
