French president's partner admits tweet 'mistake'

French President Francois Hollande's partner Valerie Trierweiler admitted Wednesday she had made a mistake in firing off a tweet snubbing Hollande's ex-companion and said she regretted it. "It was a mistake that I regret. I must have been clumsy because this was badly interpreted," Trierweiler told newspaper Ouest-France. "I had not yet realised that I was no longer a simple citizen. It won't happen again." During parliamentary elections in June, Trierweiler sent out a tweet wishing good luck to an opponent of Segolene Royal -- Hollande's ex-partner and mother of their four children. The tweet attracted widespread media coverage, with the French press calling it an embarrassment to Hollande shortly after his victory in the presidential race. There has long been speculation of intense rivalry between Royal and Trierweiler and a string of books have appeared chronicling the history of the love triangle. According to the accounts, Hollande first became enamoured of the journalist back in the 1980s and they were already a couple in 2007, although he publicly pretended to be still with Royal when she ran unsuccessfully for president that year.