🌙 Good Evening! Catch up on today’s top story.
Presidential hopeful Jordan Bardella was pictured on a Corsican beach with Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.
Watch LiveBritish Broadcasting CorporationHomeNewsSportBusinessTechnologyHealthCultureArtsTravelEarthAudioVideoLiveDocumentariesHomeNewsUS & CanadaUKUK PoliticsEnglandN. IrelandN. Ireland PoliticsScotlandScotland PoliticsWalesWales PoliticsAfricaAsiaChinaIndiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastIn PicturesBBC InDepthBBC VerifySportBusinessWorld of BusinessTechnology of BusinessNYSE Opening BellTechnologyWatch DocumentariesArtificial IntelligenceAI v the MindHealthWatch DocumentariesCultureWatch DocumentariesFilm & TVMusicArt & DesignStyleBooksEntertainment NewsArtsWatch DocumentariesArts in MotionTravelWatch DocumentariesDestinationsAfricaAntarcticaAsiaAustralia and PacificCaribbean & BermudaCentral AmericaEuropeMiddle EastNorth AmericaSouth AmericaWorld’s TableCulture & ExperiencesAdventuresThe SpeciaListEarthWatch DocumentariesScienceNatural WondersClimate SolutionsSustainable BusinessGreen LivingAudioPodcast CategoriesRadioAudio FAQsVideoWatch DocumentariesBBC MaestroDiscover the WorldLiveLive NewsLive SportDocumentariesHomeNewsSportBusinessTechnologyHealthCultureArtsTravelEarthAudioVideoLiveDocumentariesWeatherNewslettersWatch LiveFrench far-right leader romantically linked to Italian princess2 hours agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleHugh SchofieldParisEPAJordan Bardella and Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies reportedly met during the Grand Prix in May last yearFrance's far-right presidential hopeful Jordan Bardella is in a relationship with Italian socialite Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, according to celebrity magazine Paris Match.
In what has all the hallmarks of a staged "scoop", this week's front page carries photographs of the couple taken recently on holiday in Corsica with the headline "The idyll that no-one expected."
Rumours of a love affair have been circulating since January when the pair were seen together at an event in Paris to mark the 200th anniversary of Le Figaro newspaper.
But the 30-year-old president of the Rassemblement National (RN) party has consistently deflected interview questions, saying that his private life was his "last space of liberty."
The Paris Match story suggests the decision has been taken to make the relationship official.
Bardella will run for the French presidency next year if a court rules in July that historic party leader Marine Le Pen is ineligible because of a conviction for misuse of EU parliamentary funds. Polls say either RN candidate would stand a good chance of winning.
Press commentators on Thursday said it was important for Bardella to be able to enter a presidential campaign with clarity about his personal life and who might possibly accompany him to the Elysée as first lady.
But they also suggested the RN might want to defuse early any possible resentment among poorer voters about their leader's entanglement with an ultra-rich aristocrat.
Maria Carolina – also Duchess of Calabria and Palermo – is the 22-year-old daughter of Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro, one of two contenders to leadership of the royal house of Bourbon-Two Sicilies which ruled Sicily and southern Italy in the 19th Century. The heirs lost their throne when Italy was unified.
Maria Carolina – whose title carries no legal standing in the Italian Republic - is a distant descendant of France's Sun-King Louis XIV.
According to her official website, she grew up in Rome, Monte Carlo and Paris and is now
0 Comments