France's oldest woman dies aged 114 after holding title twice
France's oldest woman has died at the age of 114. Olympe Amaury only held the title correctly for 41 days, although she had been wrongly named the French doyenne in 2013-2014.
Issued on:
Amaury died in a care home in Amilly in the central Loiret region on Tuesday.
She was declared France's oldest woman last month following the death of Marie Brudieux, who was three months older than her, on 2 April.
Amaury had already been declared France's oldest woman in 2013 but Brudieux was found to be alive and older than her.
Anxious not to be caught out again, researchers stress that the title is "oldest known" and that some families prefer not to divulge their elderly relatives' age.
Olympe Amaury was born on 19 June 1901 in Tracy-sur-Loire, also in central France, married a farmworker in 1924 and had four children, three boys and a girl.
"She never did any sport, didn't eat five helpings of fruit or vegetable a day and never went to the doctor," her son Claude said when asked to explain his mother's longevity. "Perhaps that's why."
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning
Subscribe