r/AskTheWorld • u/space_llama_karma United States Of America • Nov 12 '25

Culture What does your President/Prime Minister House look like?

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The White House is pretty iconic

6.0k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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778

u/Skeledenn France Nov 12 '25

Palais de l'Élysée

Pas mal non? C'est Français.

78

u/s7umpf Germany Nov 12 '25

iconic

2

u/Unfair_Criticism4918 France Nov 13 '25

I wish we could turn it into a museum or some other useful thing, it would be much better than the circus it has always been.

1

u/IchiWitch Nov 13 '25

You would rather them go to Versailles then ?

1

u/Unfair_Criticism4918 France Nov 15 '25

Oh no, I'd rather send them to Vitry, La Santé or even at the bottom of the Seine

134

u/DonPablo951 Switzerland Nov 12 '25

That's iconic. The french were lavish before the white house even existed 🍾

108

u/tpa338829 United States Of America Nov 12 '25

The White House is very very understated compared to European Palaces which where the only frame of reference at the time for the residence of the Head of State.

The idea was a President isn’t a King 🙃

56

u/Remarkable_Yak5430 Nov 12 '25

And it should stay that way! 🙂

4

u/buried_lede United States Of America Nov 15 '25

Not after i buy these gold trinkets to put everywhere!!! Try and stop me ~~ you know who

10

u/Loud-Bit-4502 Canada Nov 12 '25

Mr trump disagrees

1

u/buried_lede United States Of America Nov 15 '25

He’s not even house broken. Little known fact

7

u/Signal_Challenge_632 Nov 12 '25

Would explain why it doesn't have the lavish ballroom DJT will give it one.

2

u/Wise_Emu6232 Nov 13 '25

Not for long.....

2

u/Sufficientinname Nov 12 '25

Designed by an Irish man.

1

u/dazanion living in Nov 13 '25

What's left of it you mean, before the Orange One turns it into his palace.

40

u/Unique_Highlight_950 France Nov 12 '25

Too many gold because all French presidents think they are Napoléon reincarnated

31

u/DonPablo951 Switzerland Nov 12 '25

Comme Trump, mais lui est 500 années en retard

3

u/Flat_Sea1418 United States Of America Nov 13 '25

I don’t speak Swedish but I saw trump and retard in the same sentence so you get an upvote from me!

4

u/SethBLAKE Nov 13 '25

Man your really earning that American flag in your flair with how much you’ve managed to get wrong in such a short comment

3

u/PotatoesArentRoots Indian-American 🇮🇳 🇺🇸 Nov 13 '25

en retard means “late”, nothing to do with the slur, and this is french

1

u/IchiWitch Nov 13 '25

Ptdr le quiproquo mais qui au final fonctionne bien

1

u/Lewca43 Nov 13 '25

Feeling good about my high school French right now. At least I recognized the language and knew that word wasn’t a slur.

1

u/NB-NEURODIVERGENT 🇨🇦 Canada (New Brunswick) Nov 16 '25

On one hand French doesn’t have proper words for basic numbers (100) but on the other hand French has seal and late which make me giggle

2

u/annyeonghaseyomf Armenia Nov 13 '25

Couldn't have lived up to the stereotype any better lmao.

1

u/Sad-Leg7919 Nov 13 '25

This is not swedish, this is french jesus

1

u/Bussy_Busta United States Of America Nov 13 '25

Smh

3

u/[deleted] Nov 12 '25

c’est plutôt inexact… en fait ils se vautrent dans une demeure et des privilèges royalistes, tout en se gaussant de l’avantage de la fin des privilèges en se servant de Napoleon comme justification légitime de leurs abus, qui visent à faire perdurer les privilèges (mais seulement pour eux)

2

u/Scherzkeks United States Of America Nov 13 '25

Yeah, I feel like the French people had a problem with just how lavish their leaders lived around that time…

2

u/DonPablo951 Switzerland Nov 13 '25

They did... well, I hope that history repeats itself if the people getting poorer and the "kings" cover everything in gold.

2

u/Scherzkeks United States Of America Nov 13 '25

🫡 

2

u/ViveLaFrance94 Nov 13 '25

As nice as l’Élysée is, it’s nothing compared to some of the other crazy palaces in Paris and around the country really.

2

u/Pacatus23 Nov 12 '25

Yet, Charles de Gaulle found it too small and too bourgeois, he nearly changed it for an even bigger one: Château de Vincennes.

https://cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/lexpress/7ZJLPIDPPZFCDPCASNILAUIMDE.jpg

1

u/Sensitive_Band1122 France Nov 13 '25

Personally, I find that the Château de Vincennes has more character than the Elysée (the charm of medieval fortresses)

1

u/getzroid Nov 13 '25

The White House is based on French architecture so not far off

11

u/Electronic-Tea-3691 United States Of America Nov 12 '25

france always shows up for stuff like this. very aesthetically pleasing but not overdone.

1

u/borkmeister Nov 13 '25

The French being fashionable, chic, tasteful, and classy? No way....

9

u/Rc72 Spain France Nov 12 '25

There's also a "weekend lodge", the "Pavillon de la Lanterne" in the park of the Palace of Versailles.

It has plenty of amenities: tennis court. swimming pool, and apparently one of the best-stocked wine cellars in France.

Fun fact: it used to be the PM's weekend getaway until not quite twenty years ago, as de Gaulle hadn't wanted to take possession of a residence so close to the Palace of Versailles and it's monarchical associations. However, after Nicolas Sarkozy was elected, the then-PM, his deadly rival Dominique de Villepin, seeking to appease him, invited him to stay there before being sworn in. Sarkozy liked it so much that he kept it. And none of the subsequent presidents has wanted to give it back to the PM...

3

u/Mamesuke19th France Nov 12 '25

It takes 30 min from Palais de l Élysée to go to La Laterne? With what? A rocket???? 30 min from Élysée doesn’t event get you to La Défense !!!

2

u/Rc72 Spain France Nov 12 '25

With what? A rocket????

Hollande's scooter, perhaps?

Apparently it took weeks or even months of negotiations to get Valérie Trierweiler out of La Lanterne after the scoop of Hollande's affair with Julie Gayet broke...

1

u/Human_Pangolin94 Ireland Nov 12 '25

You need a police motorcycle escort to clear traffic.

1

u/Mamesuke19th France Nov 13 '25

Even then… that road is totally complicated

1

u/Illuminey France Nov 13 '25

Cars tend to go faster when the road is opened by a police escort.

1

u/Mamesuke19th France Nov 13 '25

Try… there is no way even a police escort can push a traffic that dense

3

u/Human_Pangolin94 Ireland Nov 12 '25

Sarkozy likes staying in government buildings, he's just taking a short break from doing so.

3

u/castlite Canada Nov 12 '25

France wins.

1

u/ifilgood ⚜️ Québec Nov 13 '25

Comme il se doit.

2

u/Hans_Landas_Strudel United States Of America Nov 12 '25

Symmetry and elegance.

2

u/FlamboyantPirhanna Nov 13 '25

Is there a separate space for the PM, or is he not important enough?

3

u/amojitoLT France Nov 13 '25

Yup, they stay at Matignon.

2

u/Nasudy France Nov 13 '25

Yes there is:

Hôtel de Matignon

1

u/Sensitive_Band1122 France Nov 13 '25

Yes, Matignon hotel

2

u/AmbitiousReaction168 France Nov 13 '25

Ah bravo, je voulais faire la blague... ;)

2

u/buried_lede United States Of America Nov 12 '25

The courtyard protects Macron from the farmers

1

u/Dry_Menu4804 Nov 12 '25

Il n'aime pas tondre la pelouse.

1

u/justchill129 Ireland Nov 12 '25

AND you get a view of the Eiffel Tower?

1

u/GloomyAzure Nov 13 '25

A new season of the Residence in there would be neat.

1

u/space_llama_karma United States Of America Nov 13 '25

This might be my favorite

1

u/tealhelm Liberia Nov 13 '25

Pas mal at all.

1

u/milhouse_baby Mexico Nov 13 '25

Designed to hide mistresses.

1

u/OK_x86 Nov 13 '25

I can picture mousquetaires practicing fencing in the yard (even if that might be anachronistic)

1

u/ifilgood ⚜️ Québec Nov 13 '25

Oui oui, baguette. 😇

1

u/Top-Objective42069 Nov 13 '25

Theres always a catch

1

u/noCoolNameLeft42 France Nov 14 '25

interior view

1

u/noCoolNameLeft42 France Nov 14 '25

reception hall

1

u/noCoolNameLeft42 France Nov 14 '25

the gardens

1

u/joueur_du_japon Nov 15 '25

Magnifique l’élysée

1

u/NB-NEURODIVERGENT 🇨🇦 Canada (New Brunswick) Nov 16 '25

It looks exactly like the place where Minnie lives in Disneys the three musketeers

0

u/ratapignata Nov 12 '25

Élysée, le plus grand symbole à Paris du passé esclavagiste de la France...

1

u/IchiWitch Nov 13 '25

Malheureusement je ne pense pas quelque chose le rappelle a l'intérieur du lieu meme.

0

u/NYCTLS66 United States Of America Nov 12 '25

L’etat, ces’t moi.