Ségolène Royal

Ségolène Royal
Royal in 2012
Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy
In office
2 April 2014  10 May 2017
Prime MinisterManuel Valls
Bernard Cazeneuve
Preceded byPhilippe Martin
Succeeded byNicolas Hulot (Minister of Ecological and Solidary Transition)
President of the Regional Council of Poitou-Charentes
In office
30 March 2004  21 April 2014
Preceded byÉlisabeth Morin
Succeeded byJean-François Macaire
Minister delegate for Families, Children and People with Disabilities
In office
20 March 2000  6 May 2002
Prime MinisterLionel Jospin
Preceded byMartine Aubry
Succeeded byJean-François Mattei
Minister delegate for School Teaching
In office
4 June 1997  27 March 2000
Prime MinisterLionel Jospin
Preceded byFrançoise Hostalier (Secretary of State for School Teaching)
Succeeded byXavier Darcos (Minister of Labour, Social Relations, Families, Solidarity and the Cities)
Minister of the Environment
In office
2 April 1992  29 March 1993
Prime MinisterPierre Bérégovoy
Preceded byBrice Lalonde
Succeeded byMichel Barnier
Member of the National Assembly
for Deux-Sèvres's 2nd constituency
In office
19 June 2002  19 June 2007
Preceded byJean-Pierre Marché
Succeeded byDelphine Batho
In office
2 April 1993  4 July 1997
Preceded byJean-Pierre Marché
Succeeded byJean-Pierre Marché
In office
23 June 1988  2 May 1992
Preceded byConstituency re-established
Succeeded byJean-Pierre Marché
Departmental Councillor of Deux-Sèvres
In office
2 April 1992  27 March 1998
ConstituencyCanton of La Mothe-Saint-Héray
Ambassador of France for the Arctic and Antarctica
In office
1 September 2017  24 January 2020
PresidentEmmanuel Macron
Preceded byMichel Rocard
Succeeded byOlivier Poivre d'Arvor
Personal details
Born
Marie-Ségolène Royal

(1953-09-22) 22 September 1953
Dakar, French West Africa
(present-day Senegal)
Political partyIndependent (2017–2021; 2023–present)
Other political
affiliations
PS (1978–2017; 2021–2023)
Domestic partnerFrançois Hollande (1978–2007)
Children4
RelativesGérard Royal (brother)
Alma materNancy 2 University
Sciences Po
ÉNA
Signature
WebsiteOfficial Facebook

Ségolène Royal (French: [seɡɔlɛn ʁwajal] ; born Marie-Ségolène Royal; 22 September 1953) is a French politician who took part in the 2007 French presidential election, losing to Nicolas Sarkozy in the second round. She was the first woman in France's history to reach the second round in a presidential election.

Royal was president of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council from 2004 to 2014. She won the 2006 Socialist Party primary, becoming the first woman in France to be nominated as a presidential candidate by a major party. In the subsequent 2007 presidential election, she earned further distinction as the first woman to qualify for the second round of a presidential election, but ultimately lost to Nicolas Sarkozy.

In 2008, Royal narrowly lost to Martine Aubry in the Socialist Party's election for First Secretary at the Party's twenty-second national congress. She lost the Socialist Party presidential primary in 2011, and failed in an attempt to win a seat in the National Assembly in the June 2012 parliamentary elections.

She has four children with François Hollande, the former president, and was appointed by him to the vice-chair directorship of the Banque Publique d'Investissement (BPI) in 2013. She served as Minister for Ecology from 2014 to 2017, in the Valls, then Cazeneuve cabinets.