7th October 2021
As Kirsty Bertarelli – newly crowned Britain’s most eligible divorcee – surveys the £400 million settlement that marks the end of her 21-year-long marriage to Swiss businessman and pharmaceuticals heir Ernesto Bertarelli, one could be forgiven for wond …
9th May 2016
By Helena Frith Powell 9 MAY 2016 • 7:00AM “You were a Cathar,” he tells me. “I remember you. You were burnt at the stake.” If Simon is right, I have aged well. The Cathars were around in the 12th century. I have come to visit Simon as his reputation …
7th May 2016
It was one of those pit-of-the-stomach horror moments. I caught sight of myself in my rear-view mirror and suddenly realised I was ageing. There was a criss-cross of wrinkles across my forehead and around my eyes, and a big dip between my eyebrows, whi …
23rd February 2016
In France I learnt how to eat, dress, drink in moderation and live well. So although my knee-jerk reaction is to support Brexit, when I consider that link, I’m suddenly not so sure… Photo: REX By Helena Frith Powell 7:23PM GMT 23 Feb 2016 For someon …
11th October 2012
Reports of the First Lady Valerie Trierweiler’s former affairs are scurrilous even by Gallic standards Two lovers, allegedly, and a husband waiting at home: the multi-tasking Valerie Trierweiler Photo: AFP/Getty Images By Helena Frith Powell 8:03PM BST …
2nd November 2007
In France, eating well and staying slim is a constant preoccupation. But few people diet or go to the gym – and no one takes food scares seriously, says Helena Frith Powell Another day, another diet scare. As British consumers panic about the latest re …
16th October 2007
As divorce looks imminent for the Sarkozys, Helena Frith Powell explains why few Frenchwomen condemn her French president Nicolas Sarkozy is finding that Jimmy Goldsmith’s famous dictum – that when you marry your mistress you create a job vacancy – wor …
19th June 2007
Helena Frith Powell is not surprised that France’s socialist ‘golden couple’ is no more François Hollande is one of my least favourite politicians. He is arrogant, unattractive, charmless and French. Even worse, he’s a socialist. However, I am beginnin …
13th December 2006
It is said of the French that they’re interested in only two things: food and sex. Every Thursday night in May Galeries Lafayette, Paris’s most famous department store, is combining these two obsessions in an evening of shopping and seduction. I go alo …
Has France fallen in love with a new mistress? It very much looks like that from and not just because the readers of France’s FHM have voted Ségolène Royal the sixth sexiest woman in the world. Ségolène Royal looks likely not only to be the first femal …
The first school meeting I ever went to was about food. We had been living in France for a year and my daughter was in the nursery school section of the local primary school. “We are here to organise a collective morning snack for the children, it will …
It was as close to a blind date as I have ever got. But instead of an expensive agency or a well-meaning friend organising it, I was being set up by SNCF. The French state-owned railway company has introduced an online service to help you meet a friend …
Jacques Chirac, president of France, may be dreading the food at this year’s G8 summit in Edinburgh, but the first thing I do when I arrive in London from Paris is head for a decent meal that doesn’t include body parts of a duck. I have lived in France …
23rd August 2006
Helena Frith Powell persuades French women to reveal the key to dimple-free skin I am on a beach in Corsica looking at a French woman’s bottom. It is pert, round and deliciously tanned. At the risk of being arrested, I move a little closer. This is an …
15th June 2006
She’s 52, a mother of four, and possibly the next president of France. Helena Frith Powell analyses the allure of Ségolène Royal In France, being over 50 is no excuse not to be sexy and Ségolène Royal – tipped by some to be the first female president o …
31st August 2005
It boasts breathtaking countryside, low property prices and some of the most beautiful villages in France. What’s more, the Massif Central is not overrun with hordes of Brits – yet. Helena Frith Powell reports. Finding a British person living in the Au …
20th April 2005
By Helena Frith Powell In the round: the living area Everything about ‘the bubble house’ is round, from its structure down to the dog kennel. Helena Frith Powell tours an unusual French home Festes-et-Saint-André, with its traditional stone houses, is …
14th March 2005
It has unspoilt expanses of countryside, elegant boulevards in the capital city – and ridiculously low prices. It’s no wonder British buyers are falling for Argentina, writes Helena Frith Powell Martin Birch first set eyes on Argentina 15 years ago and …
23rd January 2005
It can look like the Cotswolds, English is spoken everywhere and you can buy Walker’s Crisps in the corner shop. The British have always loved the Dordogne, but the past year has seen a record invasion of buyers. Helena Frith Powell reports Ten weeks a …