Socialists’ power couple breaking up

The couple at the head of France’s main opposition Socialist Party is breaking up.

Segolene Royal had shown little delicacy in sweeping aside Francois Hollande -- Socialist Party boss and the father of her four children -- to bid for the French presidency herself.

She also kept him and the Socialists at arm’s length for much of her failed campaign.

And on Sunday night, as the results of parliamentary elections rolled in, they announced that their romantic relationship was over. Royal will now be free to seek her party’s leadership without the baggage of domestic issues. Hollande and Royal were together for three decades but never married.