Though virtually unknown to the public, it swiftly emerged that Benalla had, over the past 18 months, become a key figure in the married President’s public and private life.

His background was certainly unusual: raised in a gritty suburb of Evreux in Normandy, he became an activist for the Left-wing Socialist Party as a teenager, eventually becoming friendly with its security director Eric Plumer, who helped him get employment with party officials, including former President Francois Hollande.