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She spent her latter years in the town of Loir-et-Cher, often working as a carer for the elderly and mucking out horse stables.

Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, 94, president of France from 1974 to 1981 who became a champion of European integration and who was key to the country’s expansion of nuclear energy and high-speed rail, died Wednesday at home in the Loir-et-Cher region, in central France, after contracting the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, the modern-minded conservative who became president of France in 1974 vowing to transform his tradition-bound, politically polarized country, only to be turned out of office seven years later after failing to accomplish his goals or to shed his imperious image, died on Wednesday at his family home in the Loir-et-Cher area of central France.

Giscard d’Estaing’s office said he passed away in his family home in the Loir-et-Cher region, in central France, after contracting COVID-19.

“We must as long as possible allow our fellow citizens in nursing homes to continue having interactions,” Macron said during a visit to an elderly care home in Bracieux, Loir-et-Cher, in central France.