Bernadette Chirac, formidable former first lady of France who built power of her own, dies at 93
Bernadette Chirac, the steel-willed former first lady of France who spent 12 years at the Elysee Palace from 1995 to 2007 beside President Jacques Chirac - weathering his notorious infidelities with dry humor while building her own political power base in rural France - has died. She was 93.