Francois Hollande and Julie Gayet photos shake Elysee Palace

Five members of French President Francois Hollande’s staff have been reassigned as police investigate photos taken of the president with actress Julie Gayet inside the Elysee Palace.

The photos in Voici magazine show Francois Hollande and Julie Gayet sitting on a terrace in the grounds of the presidential palace.

Their alleged love affair made worldwide headlines in January.

Police believe the photos may have been taken by a member of Francois Hollande’s staff last month on a mobile phone.

Voici magazine described the photos of Francois Hollande and Julie Gayet – published earlier this month – as a “tender moment… behind the walls of the Elysee”, where she spends “several nights a week”.

Newspaper reports say some of the staff who have been transferred as police investigate the security breach were appointed by Francois Hollande’s predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Photos in January of Francois Hollande in a scooter helmet visiting Julie Gayet in a Paris apartment set off a media frenzy as the president was at the time in a relationship with Valerie Trierweiler.

In March, a French court ordered Closer magazine to pay Julie Gayet 15,000 euros ($19,000) over a breach of privacy for revealing the affair.

Valerie Trierweiler, a journalist, published a bestselling memoir soon afterwards detailing their relationship, in which she depicted Francois Hollande as a self-centered champagne socialist with no time for the poor.

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