France's new prime minister has Russian Orthodox and Jewish roots

French President Emmanuel Macron this week named 34-year-old Gabriel Attal as the country’s youngest-ever Prime Minister. And while reports of the January 9 appointment have largely focused on Parisian’s age and the fact that he is openly gay, few have noted his religious background. Born to an Orthodox mother from a noble lineage of White Russians and a non-practicing Jewish father,  he was baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, one of the French capital’s poshest neighborhoods.

The new prime minister’s father, Yves Attal, began his career as a lawyer before becoming a film producer. The first film he produced was Pedro Almodovar's High Heels (1991). Although he was a non-practicing Jew, some of his family members were deported during the dark hours of the 20th century. He often repeated the phrase, "God died in Auschwitz," as reported by Le Monde in August 2023.

"You will feel solidarity with the Jews throughout your life..."

Yves Attal, who died of cancer in 2015, left a lasting impression on his son, which Gabriel recounted in Gala magazine. In 2021, when the future PM was already a government member, he quoted his father, saying, "Even though you are not Jewish (ed. Jewish religion is passed through the mother), you will feel solidarity with the Jews throughout your life because you will experience antisemitism just like them due to your name." 

Gabriel Attal told the magazine that his father was right. 

"It hasn't failed to happen. But I will never complain. Every day, many anonymous people suffer from discrimination without receiving the same support and protection as I do," he said.

The younger Attal grew up in the ritzy 13th and 14th arrondissements of Paris and attended Saint-Alexandre-Nevsky Cathedral during his childhood. This was the first church to be built for the Russian Orthodox community in the French capital. It remains the seat of the Archdiocese of Russian Orthodox Churches in Western Europe and is under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. Although the young PM does not oppose "a form of transcendence" today, he still considers himself an atheist, as he stated in Le Point on March 1, 2023.

Descendant of Tsars

Gabriel Attal's mother, Marie de Couriss, comes from a long line of White Russians. Through her father, she descends from a Greek family that emigrated to Russia during the time of Catherine II. Her paternal grandmother, Marie Meyendorf, is affiliated with the renowned Russian theologian Jean Meyendorff, who was once the director of Saint Vladimir's Seminary in New York. De Couriss's family tree also reveals famous names from the old aristocracy of the Tsarist era, including the Dolgorouky-Krymsky family.

In tribute to his mother, with whom he has a close relationship, as evidenced by a few photos posted on his Instagram account, the new head of the French government changed his surname a few years ago to include his mother's name. Gabriel Attal's parents were married for sixteen years but divorced in February 2000 after having four children. Gabriel has three sisters and an adopted younger brother, nearly 20 years his junior.