Noble families, political representatives, cultural and anonymous personalities attended the funeral of the former minister on Tuesday in Paris.
For the last tribute to Frédéric Mitterrand on Tuesday afternoon at the Saint-Thomas d’Aquin church in Paris, both the public and loved ones were invited. This mixture desired by the former Minister of Culture put the Borniol house, organizer of the funeral, under severe test. While the anonymous crowd rushed to get a place at the back of the church, it was necessary “filter” and welcome the many relationships of this man of a thousand lives.
In fact, everyone announced themselves as “a close friend”, which was undoubtedly true as Frédéric Mitterrand liked to surround himself, and was curious about the world. At 2:30 p.m., half an hour before the ceremony began, the large church was already full, with some having to make do with standing. In the front rows, the family, including his brothers Olivier and Jean-Gabriel, his three children Mathieu, Saïd and Jihed, as well as his cousin Mazarine Pingeot, daughter of François Mitterrand. Behind, a whole world of Culture was seated: his former office on rue de Valois in full, the director Danièle Thompson, the architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, the presenter Stéphane Bern, the journalist Christine Ockrent, a delegation from the the Academy of Fine Arts, of which he was a member, or the chancellor of the Institut de France Xavier Darcos.
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Politicians and aristocrats
A group of former Ministers of Culture – Jack Lang, Jacques Toubon, Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, Franck Riester, Roselyne Bachelot and Rima Abdul Malak – rubbed shoulders with the last in title, Rachida Dati, and the former President of the Republic Nicolas Sarkozy who named Frédéric Mitterrand rue de Valois. Few of the actresses he loved so much had made the trip, apart from Arielle Domballe. Maria Pia of Savoy, Princess of Bourbon-Parma, Emmanuel-Philibert of Savoy, Prince Laurent of Belgium, Chantal of Orléans embodied this elite so loved by Frédéric Mitterrand. In front of the church, rows of photographers were waiting, and inside, Luc Castel, the official photographer for celebrities and crowned heads, immortalized the ceremony.
“Your wounds, your sorrows”
After welcoming the body, followed by his sons carrying his decorations and his academic sword, the parish priest, Mgr Jérôme Angot, encouraged the audience to salute a “actor in the cultural, political and social life of our country”. Several tributes followed, all different, all with a similar background: the rich and complex personality of «Frédéric», made of curiosity, sensitivity, humor and intelligence, was the thread of all these testimonies. The brothers spoke with tenderness of this governess who made him suffer so much as a child, of his budding love for cinema at the tender age of 12, and of this “guilt” who was never far from home. “We were experiencing your wounds, your sorrows, this sadness of being misunderstood and this feeling of being a has been which was unbearable to you, said his three children, moved. We would have still had so much to tell you!”
Jack Lang, a faithful friend, then highlighted “his gift of writing”. The now independent editor, Betty Mialet, adds. “He was the only one to send his manuscripts by hand, and we had to transcribe his Proustian outlook,” testified the one who had published The Bad Life in 2005 and stepped up to the plate, four years later, to defend the author attacked by the National Front. “In this story, Frédéric was as close as possible to the truth,” she said simply.
Announced, Empress Farah Pahlavi, former wife of the Shah of Iran, declined, but left a voice message full of empathy. The Empress and Mitterrand enjoyed a 40-year friendship, around Morocco, Tunisia, and the Academy of Fine Arts. It was the shahbanou who gave him his academic sword, and Frédéric Mitterrand had just completed a biography of Farah Pahlavi, illustrated by family archives. Until the end, he urged his publisher, Alain de Gourcuff, to complete the book, which should be released in May. He obviously had a thousand projects in progress, planning to write the entry speech under the Dome for the photographer Dominique Issermann, or a dictionary in love with Albania. In a speech full of delicacy, the Albanian ambassador, Dritan Tola, his friend, promised to continue this work and to name the Tirana library “Frédéric-Mitterrand Library”. “Your only regret was that I wasn’t in the marching band, said the ambassador funnyly. I should have listened to you more and seen more. To live is to always believe oneself eternal.”
The prayers were read in turn by Lorraine de Meaux, Mgr Angot, Alice Mitterrand, niece of Frédéric. Everyone could follow them on a small booklet in which a portrait of Frédéric Mitterrand in a burgundy vest, taken by Eric Fougere, had been slipped. The deceased had also asked Eric de Rothschild to read a prayer from the Jewish funeral rite and Farah Pahlavi’s secretary, a Persian poem by Hafez. Among the music chosen, gospels by Liz McComb,Ave Maria by Charles Gounod or even Friendship by Françoise Hardy. These eclectic choices, reflecting the interests of the deceased, aroused emotion and tears in the audience. At the end of the ceremony, people jostled to pay their last respects, in an almost joyful crowd. “That was it, Mitterrand,” summed up a former member of his cabinet, rue de Valois. A cremation will take place in the following days in the privacy of the family.