Emmanuel Macron will be inaugurated as France's youngest ever president on Sunday.
Photo: Eric FEFERBERG / AFP
Macron, a 39-year-old centrist, will take over from President Francois Hollande, the Socialist whose five years in power were plagued by stubborn unemployment and bloody terror attacks.
After ascending the red carpet at the Elysee Palace in central Paris, Macron and Hollande will have a private meeting in the president's office where Macron will be given the codes to launch France's nuclear weapons.
Security will be tight with around 1,500 police officers deployed near the presidential palace and the nearby Champs Elysees avenue and surrounding roads will be blocked off.
At the end of the ceremony, a 21-gun salute will ring out from the Invalides military hospital on the other side of the River Seine.
After a formal lunch, Macron will visit Paris's town hall, a traditional stop for any new French president in his "host" city.
On Monday, Macron is expected to reveal the closely-guarded name of his prime minister, before flying to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Merkel welcomed Macron's decisive 32-point victory over far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, saying he carried "the hopes of millions of French people and also many in Germany and across Europe".
In June, Macron faces what the French media are calling a "third round of the presidential election" when the country elects a new parliament in a two-round vote.
The new president needs an outright majority to be able to enact his ambitious reform agenda.
