Emmanuel Macron plays down humiliating ‘slap’ incident with playful gesture

He and his wife then appeared with arms locked as they stepped off the aircraft to greet officials.

It came after an apparent tiff where Brigitte ‘slapped’ her husband in a moment that was spotted by the world’s media.

A source told France Info that Macron’s gesture was staged to make fun of the couple’s apparent argument that the French President has desperately sought to play down.

“Yes, they wanted to respond with self-deprecation”, the source said.

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“It was a gesture that will be seen as humorous by some and provocative by others.”

The Élysée was quick to play down the footage by describing it as “playful teasing”.

A source close to Macron branded it a “harmless scuffle” before blaming “pro-Russia circles” for the negative response.

An official from his team stated: "It was a moment when the president and his wife were relaxing one last time before the start of the trip by having a laugh. It was a moment of closeness."

The video shows Macron appearing to be taken by surprise as he is shoved in the face by his wife of nearly 20 years before seemingly indicating that cameras might be watching them.

He said the incident was being overblown into a “sort of geo-planetary catastrophe” before urging people to “calm down”.

Macron was just 15 when he met his future wife, who was more than 30 years his senior, a mother-of-three, and his teacher.

Brigitte told Elle France in 2017 about the bond the couple developed while working on a play together at a school in Amiens.

Brigitte told the magazine: “In that theatre workshop we wrote plays together – our relationship was one of artistic equality. It was when we worked on the Eduardo De Filippo play ‘The Art of Comedy’.

“We wrote together on Friday nights – and by Saturday, I couldn’t wait for Friday to come around. I didn’t understand why. It seemed insane.”