Alphonsine Berthe Eugénie Pétain (née Hardon; 5 October 1877 – 30 January 1962) was the wife of the French military commander and political leader

Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Bénoni Omer Joseph Pétain (; 24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), better known as Marshal Pétain (, ), was a French marshal who commanded the French Army in World War I and later became the head of the Collaboration with Nazi Ger ...

who ruled

Vichy France Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the Battle of France, ...

between 1940 and 1944. Pétain was her second husband. She had previously been married to François de Hérain, a doctor who later became an artist. Initially, under family pressure, she rejected Pétain's marriage proposal and instead married de Hérain. However, the marriage ended in divorce in March 1914. Her son from her first marriage,

Pierre de Hérain Pierre de Hérain (24 July 1904 – 25 September 1972) was a French film director. de Hérain was born as Pierre Déhérain on 24 July 1904 in Avilly-Saint-Léonard, Oise, France. His father, François de Hérain, was a painter. His mother, Eugén ...

, became a

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

. She married Pétain on 14 September 1920. He was reported to have been at a hotel with her the night he was appointed to take command at the

Battle of Verdun The Battle of Verdun ( ; ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in French Third Republic, France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north ...

in 1916.Buckingham

References

Bibliography

* Atkin, Nicolas. ''Petain''. Routledge, 2014; * Buckingham, William F. ''Verdun 1916: The Deadliest Battle of the First World War''. Amberley 2016. {{DEFAULTSORT:Petain, Eugenie 1877 births 1962 deaths People from Seine-et-Marne Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery Spouses of prime ministers of France