Editing Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (section)

==Early life and ancestry==
Valéry René Marie Georges Giscard d'Estaing<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/fichier/4190491/Deces_2020_M12.zip |title=Fichier des décès au mois de décembre 2020 |trans-title=Death file for the month of December 2020 |publisher=National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies |access-date=26 January 2021 |language=fr}}</ref> was born on 2 February 1926 in [[Koblenz]], [[Weimar Republic|Germany]], during the French [[occupation of the Rhineland]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Safran|first=William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B8iJNlWcdIUC&q=Val%C3%A9ry+Giscard+d%27Estaing+1926&pg=PA170|title=Political Leaders of Contemporary Western Europe: A Biographical Dictionary|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=1995|isbn=978-0-313-28623-0|editor-last=Wilsford|editor-first=David|location=Westport|page=170}}</ref> He was the elder son of Jean Edmond Lucien Giscard d'Estaing, a high-ranking civil servant, and his wife, Marthe Clémence Jacqueline Marie (May) Bardoux.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ilpost.it/2020/12/02/morto-valery-giscard-destaing-presidente-francia/|title=Morto Valéry Giscard d'Estaing|work=Il Post|language=it|date=2 December 2020}}</ref> His mother was the daughter of senator and academic [[Jacques Bardoux|Achille Octave Marie Jacques Bardoux]], and a granddaughter of minister of state education [[Agénor Bardoux]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.senat.fr/senateur-3eme-republique/bardoux_jacques1008r3.html|title=Profile: Bardoux, Jacques|publisher=[[French Senate]]|access-date=2 December 2020}}</ref>

[[File:Valéry Giscard d'Estaing 1940s.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|left|Giscard d'Estaing in the 1940s]]
Giscard had an elder sister, Sylvie, and younger siblings [[Olivier Giscard d'Estaing|Olivier]], Isabelle, and Marie-Laure.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fr.news.yahoo.com/val%C3%A9ry-giscard-destaing-vie-carri%C3%A8re-225400045.html|language=fr|title=Giscard d'Estaing, ses mille vies en images|publisher=[[Yahoo]]|date=2 December 2020}}</ref> Despite the addition of "d'Estaing" to the family name by his grandfather, Giscard was not a male-line descendant of the extinct aristocratic family of [[Charles Henri Hector d'Estaing|Vice-Admiral d'Estaing]].<ref name="WPO">{{cite news|last=Hoagland|first=Jim|date=2 December 2020|title=Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, former French president, dies at 94|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/valery-giscard-destaing-dead/2020/12/02/62511218-34ec-11eb-8d38-6aea1adb3839_story.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205015110/http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/valery-giscard-destaing-dead/2020/12/02/62511218-34ec-11eb-8d38-6aea1adb3839_story.html|archive-date=5 December 2020|access-date=5 December 2020|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> His connection to the [[D'Estaing family]] was very remote. His ancestress was Lucie Madeleine d'Estaing, Dame de Réquistat (1769–1844), who in turn was descendant of Joachim I d'Estaing, sieur de Réquistat (1610–1685), illegitimate son of Charles d'Estaing (1585–1661), sieur de Cheylade, [[Knights Hospitaller|Knight of Saint John of Jerusalem]], son of Jean III d'Estaing, seigneur de Val (1540–1621) and his wife, Gilberte [[Duc de La Rochefoucauld|de La Rochefoucauld]] (1560–1623).<ref>{{cite web |title=Jean III d'Estaing, seigneur de Val |url=https://www.geni.com/people/Jean-III-d-Estaing-seigneur-de-Val/6000000001275450368 |year=1540}}</ref>

Giscard studied at the Lycée Blaise-Pascal in [[Clermont-Ferrand]], the École Gerson and the Lycées [[Lycée Janson-de-Sailly|Janson-de-Sailly]] and [[Lycée Louis-le-Grand|Louis-le-Grand]] in Paris.<ref name=edu>{{cite web|url=https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/politique/valery-giscard-d-estaing-un-president-auvergnat-1569338800|title=Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, a president of Auvergne|publisher=Francebleu|language=fr|date=2 December 2020}}</ref>

He joined the [[French Resistance]] and participated in the [[Liberation of Paris]]; during the liberation, he was assigned to protecting [[Alexandre Parodi]].<ref name="BBCobit">{{cite web|date=2 December 2020|title=Giscard d'Estaing: France mourns ex-president, dead at 94|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-13062449|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205210604/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-13062449|archive-date=5 December 2020|access-date=5 December 2020|publisher=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> He then joined the [[Free French Forces|French]] [[First Army (France)|First Army]] and served until the end of the war.<ref name=BBCobit/> He was later awarded the [[Croix de guerre 1939–1945 (France)|Croix de guerre]] for his military service.<ref name=NYTobit>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/02/world/europe/valery-giscard-destaing-dead.html|title=Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, 94, Is Dead; Struggled to Transform France|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=2 December 2020}}</ref>

In 1948, he spent a year in [[Montreal]], Canada, where he worked as a teacher at [[Collège Stanislas (Quebec)|Collège Stanislas]].<ref>''Mon tour de jardin'', Robert Prévost, p. 96, Septentrion 2002</ref>

He graduated from the [[École Polytechnique]] and the [[École nationale d'administration]] (1949–1951) and chose to enter the prestigious [[Inspection générale des finances (France)|Inspection des finances]].<ref name=NYTobit/><ref name=edu/> He was admitted to the Tax and Revenue Service, then joined the staff of Prime Minister [[Edgar Faure]] (1955–1956).<ref name=BBCobit/> He was fluent in German.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/gesellschaft/menschen/valery-giscard-d-estaing-in-wahrheit-ist-die-bedrohung-heute-nicht-so-gross-wie-damals-13925996.html?printPagedArticle=true#pageIndex_2|language=de |title=Valéry Giscard d'Estaing: "In Wahrheit ist die Bedrohung heute nicht so groß wie damals" |work=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung |date=15 November 2016 |access-date=20 November 2016|last1=Wiegel |first1=Michaela |last2=Figaro) |first2=Charles Jaigu (Le }}</ref>