Ménage à trois

Politics in France imitates junior high school;

Former presidential candidate, former partner to François Hollande: Ségolène Royal's career took another turn this week with her nominaiton as environment and energy minister in new Prime Minister Manuel Valls's government. It marks a new chapter in her long personal and political relationship with the current president.

Royal and Hollande have four children together from a relationship that began when they were students in the late 1970s.

They never married.

Their personal links broke during Royal's failed presidential bid in 2007, as Hollande took up with journalist Valérie Trierweiler.

....With Trierweiler now out of the picture following January's revelations of Hollande's alleged affair with actress Julie Gayet, the stage was set for Royal's return.

"The fatwa has been lifted," one of her allies commented.