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France’s first lady ‘ready to forgive affair’

France’s humiliated and hospitalized first lady fears she will get kicked out of the Elysée Palace because of the disclosure that her boyfriend, President François Hollande, has had a yearlong secret fling with a gorgeous blond actress.

Valerie Trierweiler, 48, was described as “prepared to forgive” Hollande, 59, but wants to know where she stands.

“She does not want to slam the door, but she wants to know very quickly what François Hollande’s intentions are,” she told friends.

Trierweiler, Hollande’s live-in girlfriend for years, was hospitalized Friday when a French magazine disclosed he had been meeting Julie Gayet, 41, in a love nest.

He sneaked out to see her while wearing a black motorcycle helmet as a disguise, the seven-page exposé revealed.

Hollande is under strong pressure from his Socialist Party and the public to break up with Trierweiler, with whom he became secretly involved while living with his previous girlfriend, the mother of his four children.

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Meet President Francois Hollande's alleged mistress, Julie Gayet.AFP/Getty
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Trierweiler is a journalist who has all the taxpayer-financed perks of a first lady, including an entourage and an office in the “madame wing” of the presidential palace. Now she could lose all that.

“She knows that if she is no longer first lady, she cannot continue to have an office in the Elysée and make use of state funds,” said a Le Parisien reporter who spoke with her Monday.

Trierweiler was described as devastated by the prospect that she won’t be able to accompany Hollande to Washington for a state dinner hosted by President Obama on Feb. 11.

“Valerie took it like being hit by a high speed train,” a friend said, according to the Daily Mail. “She was completely stunned. Of course, she’d been aware of rumors circulating around Paris for weeks.”

She was supposed to leave the hospital on Monday, but a top aide said she needs to stay there another six to eight days to recover from the “extremely strong emotional shock.”

Hollande could face the questions of 500 journalists on Tuesday when he is scheduled to outline his 2014 policy goals.

The French, being French, have strong and conflicting views. One poll found 77 percent of the public said the affair is strictly Hollande’s private matter. Another poll found 89 percent wants him to announce his separation from Trierweiler.

Others just want him to clear up the bedroom-farce narrative that has made him a national laughingstock.

“He has to clarify the situation,” said Thierry Madon, spokesman of the Socialists’ parliamentary group.

“He has to do it once, firmly and decisively, and then we don’t talk about it anymore.”

Still, “l’affaire Gayet” has boosted Hollande’s popularity. He hit an approval-rating low of 24 percent last month, but it ticked up to 26 percent after the scandalthe LH2 survey.

Neither Hollande nor Gayet has spoken publicly about it.

The newspaper Le Monde reported Monday that the head of Hollande’s presidential guard is in trouble because security officials knew nothing about the mafia link.They were also unaware that paparazzi have been stalking him .

With Times of London and Post Wire Services