How long were Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron in a relationship before marrying?
Executive summary
Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron first met in 1993 when he was a 15‑year‑old student and she was teaching at Lycée La Providence in Amiens [1] [2]. They were married in October 2007, which means roughly 14 years elapsed between their first meeting and their wedding [3] [4], although the couple and some reporting describe important intervening phases that shorten or complicate that interval [5] [6].
1. The meeting: 1993, teacher and pupil
The widely reported starting point for the Macron story is a school drama club in Amiens where Brigitte Trogneux taught and Emmanuel Macron, then 15, was a pupil in the same class as her daughter; contemporary profiles and biographies date their first encounter to 1993 [1] [2] [7].
2. When did the romance actually begin? Two narratives
Accounts diverge on whether the relationship began immediately after that meeting or developed more gradually: some biographies and news reports say their romantic relationship “began almost immediately” and that clandestine visits and letters followed soon after [6] [8], while Brigitte and other interviews emphasize a protracted, secretive dynamic in which she kept distance at times to protect her children, describing a decade‑long period before formalizing the union [5] [9].
3. The wedding: October 2007 — the firm date
The public, verifiable milestone is clear: Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron were married in October 2007 in Le Touquet, a fact recorded in encyclopedic and contemporary reporting [3] [4]. Using the 1993 first‑meeting date as the origin, the span from meeting to marriage is about 14 years [1] [3].
4. The “ten years” claim and what it means
Brigitte has told interviewers she “waited 10 years” to marry Emmanuel so as not to “wreck” the lives of her children and to let events settle before formalizing their relationship [5] [9]. That testimony is often reported as shorthand for the couple’s patience or delay, but it does not contradict the arithmetic above: the 10‑year figure appears to describe the period she consciously postponed marriage, not the total calendar years from their first contact in 1993 to their wedding in 2007 [5] [9].
5. Why different sources emphasize different spans
Media profiles highlight different timeframes depending on the narrative: pieces focused on scandal or social reaction stress how the relationship began while Macron was still a minor and Brigitte married to another man [7] [8], which foregrounds the early 1990s start; lifestyle and interview pieces amplify Brigitte’s account of a decade of waiting and family considerations before marriage [5] [9]. Both perspectives are anchored by the same fixed points—1993 for the meeting and October 2007 for the wedding—but they frame the intervening years according to whether they emphasize clandestine romance, parental opposition, or deliberate delay to protect family dynamics [6] [8].
6. Bottom line — the precise, balanced answer
If the question measures the interval from first meeting to marital vows, Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron were in contact for roughly 14 years before marrying (1993 to October 2007) [1] [3]. If the question is interpreted through the couple’s own testimony about the period they intentionally delayed marriage for family reasons, they have characterized that postponement as “about 10 years,” a personal recollection that coexists with the longer chronological span reported by independent sources [5] [9].