Simone VEIL, the Grande Dame of the French political scene, entered the Grévin on Thursday July 9th, 2009.

The Director of the Grévin, Béatrice de Reyniès, speaking from the stage of the Grévin Theatre, welcomed the new arrival, followed by Eve Ruggiéri, who paid a moving tribute to Madame Simone Veil who had come to discover her wax image.

With as a background, a screened snapshot showing Madame Veil when she was four years old, Eve said: "It seems to me that the little girl in the photograph never ceased to look upon the world around her without compromise, but always tempered with compassion, so that this delicate balance led her to become one of the just, one of those men and women who are the only good reason we have on this earth for hope". The entire audience responded with emotion to Eve's touching account of Madame Veil's life. The waxwork image was unveiled to the accompaniment of Cherubino's aria in the Marriage of Figaro, by Mozart, Madame Veil's favourite composer.

Her husband, Antoine Veil, their two sons, grandchildren and great grandchildren were also in attendance as Madame Veil expressed her pleasure at being at the Grévin and warmly thanked the sculptor and the Grévin technical team for their kind attention when she was posing for the statue. She thought her image looked perhaps rather more stern and severe than she usually sees herself, but was nevertheless a very good likeness.

The Government Minister Pierre Lellouche and Jacques Bravo, Mayor of the 9th district of Paris, were both present and had been keen to attend.