By Daily Mail Reporter PUBLISHED: 21:20 EST, 3 February 2013 | UPDATED: 03:14 EST, 4 February 2013 'Husband and wife': President Hollande's girlfriend Valerie Trierweiler will be treated as his wife during a trip to India to avoid any protocol problems French president Francois Hollande’s girlfriend Valerie Trierweiler will be treated as his ‘honorary wife’ on a state visit to India to avoid protocol problems in the conservative country. Hardline religious leaders had demanded that Mr Hollande travel alone to India on the trip later this month because he and his partner are ‘living in sin’. But the Indian government has now agreed to relax their diplomatic rules and treat the 47-year-old divorcee as his legal wife.
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Government agrees to relax rules despite opposition from hardline religious leaders
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Comes five years after Carla Bruni was forced to stay in hotel room while Nicolas Sarkozy attended official functions
The decision to welcome the French First Lady as the president’s wife on February 14 is a major U-turn on the Indian’s treatment of @placeholder five years ago.