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Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy tried to seduce Valerie Trierweiler, the former partner of his successor President Hollande, it has been claimed.

Mr Sarkozy allegedly approached political journalist Ms Trierweiler at a Bastille Day garden party two months after being elected president in 2007, whispering: 'You are beautiful. We should see each other'. But Ms Trierweiler, who was already dating Mr Hollande, is said to have hit back with a flat rejection, later calling him 'a boor'.

Mr Sarkozy, whose marriage was on the verge of collapse, took the refusal badly, writes biographer Patrice Machuret. According to the tale the leader recoiled, remarking: 'Who does she think she is?'.

Divorcing Cecilia Ciganer, he had already dated a number of political journalists - and wrongly took Ms Trierweiler to be 'an opportunist', Mr Machuret writes in His Life After The Elysee. Months after the alleged incident, reported by The Times, Mr Sarkozy met his bride-to-be, model Carla Bruni.

But from that moment on, he appeared to hold a grudge against Ms Trierweiler, Mr Machuret writes. It has been taken by many as an explanation for the apparent feud between Ms Trierweiler and Mr Sarkozy at every public appearance since Mr Hollande was elected in 2012. At Nelson Mandela’s funeral in Johannesburg, Mr Sarkozy is said to have ridiculed Ms Trierweiler’s hat.

He said it made her look like François Mitterrand, the last French socialist president, joking: 'There were three French presidents at the funeral: Me, François Hollande and François Mitterrand,' Machuret writes.

A month later, she was dumped by Mr Hollande after it emerged he was having an affair with actress Julie Gayet. Representatives of Mr Sarkozy have denied that he 'made a play for' Ms Trierweiler, said Machuret.