Emmanuel Macron

Emmanuel Macron was just a teenager when he fell in love with his drama teacher, Brigitte Trogneux, 24 years his senior. Despite their age gap—and the fact that Brigitte was a married mother of three—the boy pursued her. Disturbed by the growing closeness of their son with his teacher, Emmanuel’s parents sent him to another city to complete his high school.

However, being the determined young man that he was, Emmanuel promised to his teacher that one day he would return and marry her. He kept his promise. After completing his studies he resumed his relations with her. Brigitte eventually divorced her first husband and married Macron in 2007.

Emmanuel Macron was born on 21 December 1977 in Amiens, France, to Françoise (Noguès), a physician, and Jean-Michel Macron, professor of neurology at the University of Picardy. Even though his parents were not religious, Macron was baptized a Roman Catholic at his own request when he was 12.

He was smart and determined from a young age and performed well as a student at the Jésuites de la Providence lycée. As a teenager he became infatuated with one of his teachers at the school, and in order to distract his mind, his parents sent him to the élite high school Lycée Henri-IV in Paris for his final year.

Following his high school graduation he studied Philosophy at the University of Paris-Ouest Nanterre La Défense, obtaining a DEA degree. He then proceeded to earn his master's degree in public affairs from the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

Interested in a civil service career, Macron trained for the same at the École nationale d'administration (ENA) and graduated in 2004.

Emmanuel Macron landed a job as an Inspector of Finances in the French Ministry of Economy shortly after completing his studies in 2004. In this position, he served as deputy rapporteur for the Commission to improve French economic growth headed by Jacques Attali in 2007.

In 2008, the ambitious young man received an offer to work as an investment banker at a highly-paid position at Rothschild & Cie Banque. Since he was already working in a government job, he had to pay €50,000 to buy himself out of his government contract.

Meanwhile, Macron had also ventured into politics as a member of the Socialist Party (PS) in 2006. He left the party in 2009 and became an independent politician.

In the French political circles, Emmanuel Macron was considered a protégé of the senior Socialist politician François Hollande who is believed to have played a role in shaping the younger man’s career. In 2012, Macron was selected for a senior position in President Hollande's staff—as deputy secretary-general of the Élysée.

Macron’s political career continued to flourish and he was appointed as the Minister of Economy and Finance on 26 August 2014, replacing Arnaud Montebourg, in the government under Prime Minister Manuel Valls.

After functioning as an independent politician for a few years, Emmanuel Macron launched his own political party, En Marche!, on 6 April 2016. A social-liberal party, En Marche! is considered to be a progressive movement, uniting both the left and the right. Academics often compare the party to the Spanish liberal political party, Citizens, and Macron to its leader Albert Rivera.