Outgoing President Jacques Chirac became dependent on his daughter for advice about his image. Ségolène Royal, the Socialist candidate, is relying on the counsel of an elder son, writes Matthew Campbell.

Thomas Hollande, a 21-year-old law student, has played a prominent role in his mother’s entourage during a gruelling campaign.

When the results of the first round of voting were announced last Sunday he was the first member of the team to speak to the nation.

“We’re convinced that there will be a real mobilisation behind her,” the tall youth with curly black hair said on television.

He launched an appeal to young voters to rally behind his mother in the run-off on May 6. “We’ll fight to the end,” he added.

Thomas is the eldest of four children born to Royal and François Hollande, the Socialist party secretary-general. Nor is the rival camp short of offspring. Nicolas Sarkozy, the conservative candidate, has two sons with his first wife and one with Cécilia, his second.

Jeanne-Marie and Judith, her daughters from a previous marriage, accompanied him in his celebration of the results.

Perhaps the most productive of the candidates was François Bayrou, the centrist, who was knocked out of the first round but may yet play the role of kingmaker. He has six children with Elisabeth, his wife of 36 years.

Thomas, however, is the only child of a leading candidate to have become involved in the campaign besides Marine Le Pen, daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the National Front leader who has been eliminated from the race.

Thomas is the brains behind a phenomenon called the “Ségosphère”, an internet website for Royal supporters that he set up with five friends from the Sorbonne.

He has said that if his mother is elected he will return to his “normal life”, but it seems unlikely things could ever be the same for him as the son of France’s first female president.

He has already been involved in controversy and suggestions of police favouritism after the theft of his scooter. The case was apparently handed over to experienced officers who normally investigate murders and bank theft. They collected fingerprints and DNA samples, rounded up suspects and organised an identity parade. The scooter was never found.

Jean Sarkozy, 19, one of the conservative candidate’s sons, enjoyed the same “fast track” treatment from police when he reported the theft of his Piaggio scooter in January.

Whoever wins the election, the presence of so many children in the presidential palace will make for a change in atmosphere. For the past several years the only child there has been 11-year-old Martin, Chirac’s grandson.

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