Valerie Trierweiler to visit India despite split with Hollande: charity

Mumbai : Valerie Trierweiler, the ex-partner of French President Francois Hollande, will go ahead with her trip to India starting later Sunday despite Saturday's announcement that the couple have split, a charity official said.

Trierweiler will arrive in the financial hub Mumbai late on Sunday for the visit to promote the work of French charity Action Against Hunger (Action Contre la Faim, ACF), an official from the charity said.

"There is no doubt about her coming," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that the charity was "working on different assumptions" -- meaning her schedule in India may change.

The trip will be Trierweiler's first public appearance since it emerged earlier this month that Hollande was having an affair with a French actress nearly 20 years his junior.

On Saturday Hollande told AFP he has split with longstanding partner Trierweiler, 48, after revelations of his affair with actress Julie Gayet.

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Trierweiler was hospitalised for a week after news broke of Hollande's involvement with the 41-year-old Gayet, and she has since been holed up in a presidential retreat outside Paris.

The charity is paying for Trierweiler's long-planned trip, which is financed mostly by private Indian partners.

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In Mumbai on Monday, Trierweiler will visit a hospital where ACF has a feeding project for malnourished children and witness a training programme for medical staff.

She will lunch with the wives of top local businessmen and then attend a charity gala dinner at the city's luxury Taj Mahal hotel.

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The dinner has been organised to promote ACF's local charity partner Fight Hunger Foundation, with Trierweiler the guest of honour and a list of sponsors including Moet and Chandon.

A press conference is also planned for Monday afternoon but Trierweiler herself may not address the media, ACF has said.

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