Germaine Deschanel

Germaine Deschanel (born Germaine Brice de Vièle: 13 September 1876 - 8 July 1959) was the well-born wife of Paul Deschanel, the French statesman-academician who served as President of France from 18 February to 21 September 1920.

Biography Provenance and early years Camille Armande Marie Germaine Brice de Vièle was born at two in the morning in Montigny (Vezin-le-Coquet), a short distance to the west of Rennes, into which it has for most purposes subsequently been subsumed. Rennes was and is the principal commercial and political centre of Upper Brittany. It was here that she grew up. Her father was René Joseph Brice de Vièle (1839-1921), a lawyer who had been prominent locally as an outspoken opponent of the "Second Empire" regime. The return of republican government in 1870 found him in sympathy with the political mainstream. He represented the department as a "Moderate Republican" ("Républicain modéré") deputy ("member of parliament") in the National Assembly between 1871 and 1889, and again between 1893 and 1921. He combined his parliamentary duties with senior directorial postings, principally in the banking and finance sector. As the only grand-child to the dramatist-academician Camille Doucet (1812-1899), Germaine Brice was also heiress to talent and privilege through her mother, born Louise Antoinette Doucet.

Marriage On 13 February 1901 Germaine Brice de Vièle married the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Paul Deschanel, a leading member of the Democratic Republican Alliance (party), noted for the impact of his oratory. The church ceremony was conducted in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the left bank 6th arrondissement of Paris. Germaine Deschanel was younger than her husband by more than 21 years.

The marriage was followed by the births of the couple's three children: A full return to robust good health eluded him, however. In April 1922, following an Influenza attack, he suffered a relapse after leaving the house contrary to medical advice before being sufficiently recovered. Forced by his condition to return to his bed, suffering from a pulmonary abscess and pleural empyema, Paul Deschanel was now looked after by two doctors who were unable to save his life. He died aged 67 on 28 April 1922. She resurfaced briefly on 24 October 1926, when she was photographed with her three children and her recently acquired son-in-law arriving in Nogent-le-Rotrou, arriving for the unveiling of a statue celebrating her late husband. Germaine Deschanel never remarried, and turned down all offers of a government pension. She died at Neuilly-sur-Seine on 8 July 1959.

Her body was buried alongside the mortal remains of her husband and their younger son (who had been killed early in the war) in the family vault at Montparnasse.