For his last year at the Elysée, Emmanuel Macron wants to attract followers capable of telling the presidential gesture and if possible improving his record. Culture being one of his reserved domains, it was only natural that he appointed a close friend, who is also an expert in the subject.
Catherine Pgard (71 years old) knows the world of media well, having been part of it. For 30 years, she was a political journalist then editor-in-chief in newspapers more classified on the right: Le Quotidien de Paris, Le Point. This intimate knowledge of the media and political life allowed him to understand the mechanisms of “making it known”. in public life. Valuable expertise that the new tenant of the Elysée, Nicolas Sarkozy, is seeking to advise him within his office. For 4 years, from 2007 to 2011, she was at the heart of the presidential machine while occupying an overarching position.
To thank her for her valuable advice and recognize her interest in culture, he appointed her in 2011 to the presidency of the Château de Versailles. This appointment then aroused numerous criticisms which pointed to the inexperience of Catherine Pgard in the management of a cultural operator and the act of the prince.
However, during her 12 years and 5 months at the head of this vast estate, she managed to maintain her position, pursue the major master plan of the work, generate patronage to increase public funding, carry out quality programming and attract a large foreign audience. While it is true that like the Louvre, Versailles is a “brand” that facilitates many things, it has skilfully avoided controversies while maintaining a respectful distance from the media. No burglary of Apollo’s gallery came to break his epic tale.
The geographical proximity between the Lanterne, the secondary official residence of the Elysée and the castle allowed him to cultivate good relations with the Macron couple. To the point that Emmanuel Macron extended his interim presidency of the Establishment a little too much to the point of creating a stir in the media and even at the Court of Auditors. After a quick stint at the AFALULA Agency in charge of the cultural development of the AL-Ula region in Saudi Arabia, she returned in September 2025 to the Elysée to advise the President on culture and in particular on appointments. She is the one who is in charge of identifying the right profiles in the game of musical chairs caused by the death of Sylvain Amic in Orsay and the early departure of Laurence from Les Cars du Louvre.
He therefore has a little less than 14 months left to take care of the cultural assessment of Emmanuel Macron’s two five-year terms and write the narrative. This is not much for the one who will in all cases be the Minister of Culture of the President who had the shortest mandate.
