From a former supermodel with a reputation for partying with rock stars to a twice-divorced mother the French vote for president will see more than just economic policies change.

Valerie Trierweiler, 47, the partner of Mr Hollande, will become the first unmarried ‘Première Dame’ in history to enter the Elysee Palace on the arm of the country's most powerful man.

The feisty magazine journalist was revealed as Mr Hollande’s lover when he separated from the mother of his four children, the politician Segolene Royal, with whom he lived for 30 years.

She had gained the nickname ‘Rottweiler’ after she slapped a colleague on Paris Match who said something she deemed sexist. But despite her reputation, she has said that she intends to be more low key than her predecessor Carla Bruni.

‘I will bend to protocol,’ she said in an interview before the election. ‘But it will be for me to find my place. First Lady is not something I’ve ever dreamed of. What I’m scared of is losing my liberty.

'I am not seeking notoriety and I am not seeking to grab the limelight.'

She has also voiced concerns at the prospect of losing her independence because of her partner's new role - and so it seems a wedding is probably the last thing on the to-do list for the new power couple.

Trierweiler says she and Hollande first met 23 years ago when she was a political reporter.

It was while he was at the ENA that Hollande fell for Ségolène Royal, a young radical. They met at a student party and remained together for 30 years.

Royal announced their separation; they had actually split the year before, since Hollande was having an affair with Trierweiler, a journalist on the magazine Paris Match.

Royal and Hollande are no longer on good terms — unsurprisingly, since he calls his new partner 'the love of his life' in interviews. 'Can anyone recall anything Francois Hollande has done in 30 years?' Royal asked bitterly at one point, though she has since grudgingly backed him.

With the help of The Rottweiler, this campaign saw the emergence of a new Hollande.

He lost weight, sharpened his suits and ditched his old-fashioned horn-rimmed glasses. He started to mimic the mannerisms, the talk, even the walk of his hero Mitterrand.

(Read by Emily Cheng. Emily Cheng is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)

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(Agencies)