Conspiracy theories have washed over social media following the strange appearance of French president Emmanuel Macron at Davos.
Macron raised eyebrows after sporting a pair of aviator sunglasses as he gave a major speech at World Economic Forum on Tuesday.
French officials said Macron, 48, had burst a blood vessel in his eye, which left him with an unsightly injury.
But the official explanation did not stop social media users from working themselves into a frenzy, trying to find the ‘real’ reason for the sunglasses.
Many made unfounded claims linking the glasses to a previous incident involving Macron’s wife, 72-year-old Brigitte.
Shocking video of the 2025 incident, shot by the Associated Press news agency in Hanoi, shows the French President’s plane door opening to reveal him.
His wife Brigitte’s arms then emerge from the left of the open doorway as she places both hands on her husband’s face and gives it a shove.
The president appears startled but quickly recovers and turns to wave through the open door.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron gestures as he delivers a speech during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 20, 2026
Macron raised eyebrows with his unusual appearance
Sporting a pair of aviator sunglasses due to a current eye condition, the French president told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday: ‘It’s… a shift towards a world without rules, where international law is trampled underfoot’
She remains concealed by the aircraft body, making it impossible to see her facial expression or body language.
The couple then proceed down the staircase for the official welcome by Vietnamese officials, though Brigitte Macron does not take her husband’s offered arm.
Macron’s office initially denied the authenticity of the images, before they were confirmed as genuine.
A close associate of the president later described the incident as a couple’s harmless ‘squabble’.
Though there is no evidence that backs up these claims, many social media users said that Macron was simply being vain.
One joked: ‘Unless Macron has a medical condition like cataracts or something that requires him to wear sunglasses on stage, this is peak French douche-baggery right here.’
He first wore sunglasses last week when inspecting members of France’s armed forces – and wore them again at Davos, where he mingled with world dignitaries.
Macron himself cracked a joke about his sunglasses, referencing Eye of The Tiger, the song from 1982’s Rocky III: ‘Simply see an unintentional reference to the Eye Of The Tiger… for those who catch the reference, it is a sign of determination.’
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Footage shot by the Associated Press news agency in Hanoi shows Macron’s plane door opening to reveal him
His wife Brigitte’s arms emerge from the left of the open doorway, she places both hands on her husband’s face and gives it a shove
Despite his joke, his speech at Davos was sombre.
He told the World Economic Forum: ‘It’s… a shift towards a world without rules, where international law is trampled underfoot and where the only law that seems to matter is that of the strongest’, adding that what he called ‘imperial ambitions’ were resurfacing.
He also said that Europe should not hesitate to deploy tools at its disposal to protect its interests, amid rising trade threats from Trump in the run-up to the US President’s speech on Wednesday.
Macron opened his speech by saying: ‘It’s time of peace, stability and predictability, yet we have approached instability and imbalance,’ adding that ‘conflict has become normalised’.
But while Macron did not directly address the US President, he said he prefers ‘respect to bullies’ and ‘rule of law to brutality’ following threats by Trump.
Macron also denounced US competition seeking to ‘subordinate Europe’ and ‘unacceptable’ tariffs after Trump threatened to impose levies on countries opposing his plans to seize Greenland.
The French President described ‘competition from the United States of America through trade agreements that undermine our export interests, demand maximum concessions, and openly aim to weaken and subordinate Europe’.
