As coronavirus spread through France, so did the grey in the prime minister’s impressively dark beard. When Édouard Philippe regularly appeared on television to detail the health crisis or outline lockdown rules, viewers watched as the patch of hair on his left cheek grew, like the physical embodiment of the growing pandemic, reports The Guardian.
Was it his age, he is 49, or the stress of persistent rumours that the increasingly unpopular president, Emmanuel Macron, was about to dump his increasingly popular government leader?
Last week, after Macron announced France had won the first battle in what he described as the “war” on Covid-19 and life could return to near normal, Philippe put an end to the speculation, telling Paris Match magazine he had vitiligo.
“It’s not serious, or painful or contagious,” he said of the long-term condition that causes white patches on the skin and hair.
Public interest in Philippe’s beard – what the Royal Navy would call a “full set” – highlights the human face of a man often seen as lacking in charisma, but whose gravitas and reassuring tone – along with the occasional sardonic bon mot – have seen France through the pandemic.
Philippe was the relatively unknown mayor of Le Havre when he was appointed to Matignon, the French equivalent of 10 Downing Street, after Macron was elected president two years ago.