THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The eldest son of Francois Hollande has launched a scathing attack on Valerie Trierweiler, the French president's partner, accusing her of destroying his father's "Mr Normal" image.
Thomas Hollande, a 27-year-old lawyer, criticised the way Ms Trierweiler, 48, has conducted herself since becoming first lady in May.
Ms Trierweiler caused outrage last month by expressing her support via Twitter for a politician standing against Segolene Royal, 58, in parliamentary elections.
Ms Royal is the former partner of Mr Hollande and the mother of their children – Thomas, Clemence, 25, Julien, 22, and Flora, 20.
Since the infamous tweet, Ms Royal lost the election, seen her career all but ended, and been widely ridiculed across France.
This led to President Hollande, 57, speaking to each of his children individually about the saga, but they all told him that they never wanted to see Ms Trierweiler again.
In comments to Le Point magazine, Thomas Hollande said his father had been "devastated" by the tweet and it had "cause him a lot of pain". » | Peter Allen, Paris | Wednesday, July 11, 2012