Angela Merkel took a break from global affairs at the centenary of the end of World War One to clear up a case of mistaken identity.
The Germany chancellor was confused with Emmanuel Macron’s wife Brigitte Macron by a 101-year-old woman after she joined the French leader at a ceremony to commemorate the 1918 armistice.
The interaction, captured by French.TV.info, saw the two heads of state chatting with the French pensioner as they met members of the public following the ceremony.
“Mr Macron, it’s not possible, a little woman like me shaking hands with the President of the Republic, it’s fantastic,” she said to Mr Macron.
She then turned to Angela Merkel and addressed her as “Madame Macron”.
Taken aback by the mix-up, Ms Merkel leaned towards the woman to properly introduce herself and set the record straight.
“I am Germany’s chancellor”, she explained, twice, in French.
The centenarian did not visibly react to the new information, but continued to smile, saying “it’s fantastic”.
Earlier in the day, Ms Merkel and Mr Macron unveiled a plaque to Franco-German reconciliation, laid a wreath and signed a book of remembrance in a replica railway carriage.
Mr Macron, 40, is married to 65-year-old Brigitte Marie-Claude Trogneux-Macron, who met him when she was a teacher at the school where he was a student.
