She met Georges Pompidou, her future husband, during the first year of her studies; he was then working as a literature teacher at a lycée.

[1] Georges Pompidou fought in the Battle of France in the Second World War, before resuming his career as a teacher.

The couple did not move to the Prime Minister's official residence at the Hôtel Matignon, staying instead in their apartment in Quai de Béthune on Île Saint-Louis.

[3] Pompidou won public acclaim for his handling of the May 1968 strike but it caused friction with De Gaulle, leading to his resignation as Prime Minister once the crisis had passed.

[1] The couple redecorated its rooms in the modern style, with painted aluminium walls and colourful carpets by Yaacov Agam, and soft furnishings by Pierre Paulin.

The building was designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers (it is said that Georges Pompidou didn't approve of the choice of the jury who picked up Piano and Rogers, and that he would have preferred a more classic architecture) and the choice of artwork for the Centre was based largely of her knowledge of her husband's tastes.