A 101-year-old woman accidentally mistook German chancellor Angela Merkel for French President Macron’s wife.
The confusion happened Saturday at a WWI memorial ceremony in France.
Chancellor Merkel and French President Macron honored the French-German reconciliation and the 1918 armistice of WWI during the ceremonies. Their demeanor towards one another was so friendly that one elderly bystander mistook Merkel for Macron’s wife.
“Mr. Macron, it’s not possible, a little woman like me shaking hands with the President of the Republic, it’s fantastic,” the 101-year-old woman said to the French president before she turned to Merkel and addressed her as “Madame Macron.”
Merkel tried to set the elderly woman straight, explaining that she is the chancellor of Germany.
However, the woman didn’t fully understand. Asking again, “You are not Madame Macron?”
Merkel responded again, this time in French, saying, “No, chancellor of Germany.”
It’s not clear if the elderly woman ever fully understood. All she had to say in response was “It’s fantastic.”
Mistaken identities and all, the confusion was sure to come as a light reprieve amidst the solemnities of the ceremonies.
