LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

1 & 2.A Picardy childhood: born near the battlefields of the Somme, Emmanuel Macron says he preferred reading and playing the piano to boums with his classmates. (Personal archives of Emmanuel Macron via Bestimage / Presidency of the French Republic)

3.The haircut: fellow students recall Macron’s dishevelled look, recorded here on his Sciences Po card, as much as his stellar academic performance. (Presidency of the French Republic)

4.Au naturel: Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron posing for the cameras in the dunes at Le Touquet during the 2017 election campaign. (Getty Images)

5.The godfathers: Macron as a young inspecteur des finances with Jacques Attali, one of the many sponsors who opened doors for him in Paris. (Getty Images)

6.The gambler: Macron’s decision to back François Hollande landed him a plum job at the Elysée Palace and then a post in government. Hollande later said his young adviser ‘betrayed’ him. (Getty Images)

7.The Grande Marche: the summer of door-knocking in 2016 seemed quaint and old-fashioned at the time, but turned into a useful rehearsal for the election campaign. (Getty Images)

8.Full house: within four months of its launch En Marche counted more members than the Socialist Party; within a year Macron was filling venues like this one in Paris. (Author’s photograph)

9.The dynastic challenge: in 2017 the National Front’s Marine Le Pen drew more voters than her father had in 2002. But a disastrous debate performance brought her future leadership into question, and turned attention to her hard-line niece, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen. (Getty Images)

10.That blue felt-tip pen: Macron describes himself as a details man, who likes to take notes at meetings and rework his speeches in longhand (here at En Marche headquarters during the election campaign). (Getty Images)

11.A student of symbols: Macron’s solitary walk across the Cour Napoléon of the Louvre on election night recalled the choreography of Mitterrand’s walk to the Panthéon in 1981. (Getty Images)

12.Les Macron boys: the young and (mostly) male campaign team arrives at the Elysée Palace, among them Griveaux, Ndiaye, Girier, Denormandie, Séjourné and Fort. (Getty Images)

13.Waiting for Putin: Two weeks after his inauguration, Macron invited the Russian leader to the Palace of Versailles, earning himself the nickname Sun King to add to that of Jupiter. (Author’s photograph)

14.A strange couple: Macron followed up his early knuckle-crunching handshake with an invitation to Donald Trump to attend the Bastille Day parade, prompting the American president to call him ‘a great guy … loves holding my hand’. (Getty Images)

15.In search of magic: Macron’s quest for a new Franco-German bargain with Merkel will test his ability to act as joint leader of the new European order. (Getty Images)

16.Eulogy for a rock star: Macron’s speech outside the Madeleine church in Paris on the day of Johnny Hallyday’s funeral was in some ways his ‘Diana moment’, an attempt to connect with popular French emotion. (Getty Images)