瓦莱丽将向法国总统索要巨额分手费

FRANCOIS Hollande had hoped to draw a line under the scandal plunging his presidency into farce when he phoned the French state news agency to announce his separation from Valerie Trierweiler.

But his domestic woes look set to continue amid claims he will have to pay her compensation for the humiliation and loss of earnings she suffered because of him.

As France's erstwhile first lady flew to India yesterday on a humanitarian assignment, friends said she was expecting to thrash out a financial settlement with the head of state upon her return.

"These women will have cost me dear," Mr Hollande told advisers over the weekend. The President left his five-bedroom flat in a chic suburb of Paris to Segolene Royal, the mother of his four children, when he dumped her for Ms Trierweiler in 2007.

Sources in his office say he has no intention of installing Julie Gayet, 41, the actress and film producer who is his latest mistress, in the Elysee Palace for now.

The publication of photographs showing Mr Hollande, 59, arriving on a scooter for a nocturnal encounter with Ms Gayet plunged him into private and political turmoil a fortnight ago.

He sought to restore dignity to the presidency when he telephoned Agence France-Presse, the national press agency, over the weekend to read an 18-word statement saying he had terminated his relationship with Ms Trierweiler.

It came after Ms Trierweiler, 48, refused to sign a joint statement with Mr Hollande, switching off her mobile on Friday and leaving his messages unanswered. Her spokesman, the only one of her five government staff still working for her, said she was now on "good terms" with Mr Hollande and in better health after the announcement of their break-up.

Ms Trierweiler spent a week in hospital and a further seven days recuperating at the presidential residence in Versailles after taking an overdose of sleeping pills upon discovering his affair with Ms Gayet. Her trip to Mumbai for Action Contre La Faim, which had been planned months ago, is likely to be her swansong as first lady. When she returns to Paris, she will find her page on the presidency's website has been removed.

Mr Hollande apparently has agreed to continue paying the rent for the flat in Rue Cauchy in the 15th arrondissement of Paris while she looks for somewhere else.

Friends of Ms Trierweiler, who has three sons from her second marriage, said she was expecting more than just short-term help with her accommodation. They say she wants compensation for having abandoned her post as presenter of a TV chat show, when Mr Hollande was elected in 2012.

Although she still works as a book reviewer for Paris Match - a post she will continue to fill, the magazine's editor says - she is understood to earn much less than Mr Hollande, who is paid Euro178,920 ($280,896) a year as president. The left-wing leader declared assets worth Euro1.17 million during the presidential campaign.

Bernard Fau, a divorce lawyer, said Ms Trierweiler could claim damages from the President not only for losing her quasi-official post as first lady but also for the way in which he cheated on her and then ditched her when his affair became known.

"She had an office, her activities were related on the presidency's internet site and she took part in state visits," Mr Fau said.

"She has suffered a loss with the end of this situation. Her image has been affected. She has suffered a worldwide public affront. The wrong is undeniable."

French courts rarely award more than a few thousand euros as compensation for hurt feelings in separation cases, but Ms Trierweiler may demand more given the pressure that friends say she has been under.