Micheline Roquebrune - Moroccan Women, Family and Childhood

Micheline Roquebrune was interested in sports since an early age and began participating in golf tournaments as a teenager. However, also an artist, she re-discovered her love for painting by the time she was 23. She developed her own "vibrant, realist style", inspired by 'le bonheur de vivre'. Since then, she has held exhibitions all over the world in Chicago, Athens, Rome, and France, as well as in ‘The National Museum of Women in the Arts’ in Washington D.C. However, the short statured woman drew international attention after she became involved with her towering partner, Sean Connery, who is seen as the ultimate macho man.

Micheline Roquebrune was born in 1929 to Moroccan-French parents. She learned to speak French and Spanish fluently as a child, and learned English later. She understands Arabic as well. She played golf in her early years and later became a dedicated painter.

Micheline Roquebrune was in two unsuccessful marriages before she met Sir Sean Connery at a golf tournament at the Mohammedia golf club in Morocco in March 1972. At the time, he was still with his first wife Diane Cilento, with whom he had a son named Jason. She was living in a North African country with her children. In spite of that, they were immediately drawn towards each other, and according to her account on France's 'Gala' magazine, they ended up sharing bed within 24 hours after they first met.

She stated that while the two didn't speak the same language, it never became a barrier for them as they communicated via body language. In the following days, they continued to "play golf like strangers" and met afterwards "to make love like crazy people". However, at the end of the tournament, which Roquebrune won, they parted ways till he contacted her two years later, inviting her to join him in Marbella, Spain. They finally got married in 1975. While they do not have children together, she has three children from her previous marriages – Oliver, Micha, and Stephane – and is step-mother to Jason, his child with Cilento. Stephane and Jason are reportedly of the same age and are fairly close to each other. Roquebrune and Connery have completed over four decades together, which they spent mostly between Scotland, Spain and the United States. The couple exercise and play golf together to stay fit, and can still be seen on public outings together at this age.

In November 2015, ‘Telegraph UK’ reported that Micheline Roquebrune was to stand trial in Spain following fraud allegations over the sale of Casa Malibu on the Costa del Sol, the Marbella home that she and her husband Sean Connery owned for more than 20 years. Her husband, who was also investigated for the same, had declared his innocence in a 56-page affidavit the previous year and as such was not facing trail anymore. Nevertheless, the judge continued his investigations into the alleged irregularities in the sale and the part Roquebrune played in it. Reportedly, she was part of a complex plot to defraud the Spanish authorities of nearly £5.5 million. Soon after the house was sold in 1999, it was demolished as well, and over 70 new flats were built in the area, which were then sold for an estimated £45 million. However, as per regulations, only five flats were allowed to be built on the site. According to the allegations, Roquebrune was in communication with lawyers and businessmen charged in the case to formalize "fictitious legal transactions" so that profits from the sale could be hidden from taxmen. If convicted, she could face a prison sentence of up to two and a half years with additional fine of more than £16 million. Three of Connery’s lawyers were sentenced for tax fraud in connection with the case in late 2016.