The shocking news about the French president's ill-fated tryst with his mistress spread quickly.
While taking a break from the urgent political matters of the day, the head of state literally succumbed to his passion in a salon at the Elysee Palace, suffering a cerebral hemorrhage, and dying in the arms of his lover, who fled half-naked after raising the alarm.
We're not talking about Francois Hollande, the current occupant of the Elysee who is dealing with a very public domestic crisis of his own, but a predecessor, President Felix Faure, whose death at age 58 on Feb. 16, 1899, at the height of the infamous "Affaire Dreyfus," sparked intense speculation.