--- description: An earnest 101-year-old woman accidentally confused German chancellor Angela Merkel for French First Lady Brigitte Macron. title: Woman Mistakes Angela Merkel for Emmanuel Macron's Wife image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc017c45f2ca4e26d/69893ed6bc6cfc32233e769f/woman-mistakes-angela-merkel-for-briggitte-macron.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Woman Made the Honest Mistake of Thinking Angela Merkel Was Emmanuel Macron's Wife  by [Cady Lang](/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 12, 2018 7:11 PM CUT  by [Cady Lang](/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 12, 2018 7:11 PM CUT An earnest 101-year-old woman accidentally confused [German chancellor Angela Merkel](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2015-angela-merkel/ "undefined") for [French First Lady Brigitte Macron](http://time.com/4905512/brigitte-macron-wrinkles/ "undefined") during a ceremony that honored the French-German reconciliation and the 1918 armistice of World War I. Chancellor Merkel and [French president Emmanuel Macron](http://time.com/emmanuel-macron-president-france-interview/ "undefined")‘s cordial demeanor was so friendly that one elderly French bystander who shook their hands mistook Merkel for Macron’s wife Brigitte. “Mr Macron, it’s not possible, a little woman like me shaking hands with the President of the Republic, it’s fantastic,” the centenarian said to the French president before turning to Merkel and addressing her as “Madame Macron. Merkel then told her that she was “the Chancellor of Germany;” according to the _Independent_, Merkel explained her title to the woman twice, in French. Evidently the woman did not have anything to say to these statements, besides exclaiming: “it’s fantastic.” Watch the full confusion of Chancellor Angela Merkel with First Lady Brigitte Macron below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5452148/woman-thinks-angela-merkel-is-emmanuel-macron-wife/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5452148/woman-thinks-angela-merkel-is-emmanuel-macron-wife/"},"headline":"Woman Made the Honest Mistake of Thinking Angela Merkel Was Emmanuel Macron's Wife","datePublished":"2018-11-12T19:11:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-24T06:56:36.743Z","description":"The same but different","url":"https://time.com/5452148/woman-thinks-angela-merkel-is-emmanuel-macron-wife/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc017c45f2ca4e26d/69893ed6bc6cfc32233e769f/woman-mistakes-angela-merkel-for-briggitte-macron.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc017c45f2ca4e26d/69893ed6bc6cfc32233e769f/woman-mistakes-angela-merkel-for-briggitte-macron.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"French President Emmanuel Macron Welcomes Head Of States For The Commemoration Of The 100th Anniversary Of The End Of WWI","caption":"French President Emmanuel Macron Welcomes Head Of States For The Commemoration Of The 100th Anniversary Of The End Of WWI","creditText":"Antoine Gyori - Corbis—Corbis via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5452148/woman-thinks-angela-merkel-is-emmanuel-macron-wife/","name":"Woman Made the Honest Mistake of Thinking Angela Merkel Was Emmanuel Macron's Wife"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"This Video Is No Longer Available","description":"The same but different","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fKodeUO6/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-06-23T15:00:44.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fKodeUO6.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5452148/woman-thinks-angela-merkel-is-emmanuel-macron-wife/","duration":"PT10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5452148/woman-thinks-angela-merkel-is-emmanuel-macron-wife/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```