WHO NEEDS Desperate Housewives when we have the Chirac women? I am not talking about any shenanigans. France’s republican monarch may or may not have notched up dalliances to dwarf those of Wisteria Lane, but this is about his legitimate household, the ladies of the Elysée.

France is weary of the 73-year-old President as he nears the last of what will be 12 bumpy years in the palace, but it remains fascinated by the four women who surround him — Bernadette, his wife, Laurence and Claude, their daughters, and Anh Dao Traxel, the Vietnamese refugee whom they took in as their “third daughter” in 1979. Despite the secrecy around the Gallic governing classes, the saga of devotion, loyalty, suffering and dysfunction among the Chirac women has become well known. Through their lives, Chirac emerges as the all-conquering alpha-male with a vulnerable streak.

Le bulldozer, as he used to be known, owed much of his rise and his survival to Bernadette, the aristocratic, long-suffering première dame who was a fellow university student. A county councillor and sensible granny on chat shows, Bernie also has a ruthless side that has been highlighted in a new book by Jean Paul Lepers, who fell foul of her with a television documentary that never made it to air. Bernadette, who makes lavish use of state jets and other trappings of power, sees herself as the Queen of France, says Lepers. “Anyone who has crossed her depicts Madame in a less flattering light than that of courageous spouse and lady of charity.”

The opposite image emerges in La fille de coeur, a gushing new account of first family life by Traxel who was taken in when le grand Monsieur was Mayor of Paris. “Madame” is a saintly figure who taught her everything and later objected when she announced the end of her first marriage. “One does not divorce, one puts up with things,” Bernadette admonished her.

Traxel sheds light on the sad life of Laurence, the invisible elder daughter. Anorexic since her teenage years, she has made repeated suicide attempts and lives in seclusion under the family’s care. Laurence, a talented medical student, suffered from her father’s neglect, says Traxel. “I felt in her a need that was never fulfilled. She only had eyes for this handsome, brilliant father who was sucked into the spiral of power.” In the eyes of Traxel, who at 48 is the same age as Laurence, Chirac is a noble monarch who can do no wrong. “I love him more than my own father,” she says.

Great devotion towards le grand Jacques has been shown by Claude, 42, the daughter who has served most of her adult life as his media manager and adviser. Although she rubs shoulders daily with journalists, Claude remains insaisissable, a mystery. Chirac, as she always calls him, is her raison d'être. Men have come and gone, including a husband who died from an overdose just after their wedding and a judo champion who fathered Martin Chirac, the only grandchild. Le Point magazine had a go at her this week, calling her “a beautiful object of fantasy . . . Rasputin, a collector of lovers, inconstant but faithful come what may to her Papa Président”.

Despite two terms studded with failures, France still has a soft spot for Chirac. There will be a twinge of nostalgia when he bows out next year. No one expects him to stand again and Claude and Bernadette are against the idea. None of the would-be heirs of Left or Right will arrive so dependent on a female household. The Elysée soap could take an interesting turn, however, if the palace falls to Ségolène Royal, the Socialist who is now favourite in the polls. Her consort, and father of her four children, is François Hollande, her party leader.

The arrival of a female president — still unthinkable in the conventional wisdom — would be in keeping with a new study by the Culture Ministry. This shows women to be surging ahead of men in education and culture. Not only are les françaises better qualified, over the past three decades they have become the leaders in all high-brow pastimes, attending far more classical concerts, visiting more museums and above all reading more books. For anyone who sees the French as a literate nation, here is a revealing figure. Almost four out of ten men have not read a single book over the past year. Three quarters of women say that they have read at least one.

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