Emmanuel Macron's official portrait prompts a meme frenzy

The French president tweeted his official portrait in which he stands in front of his desk, a window open onto a garden behind him. He is flanked by the French flag on the left, and the European Union flag on the right.Twitter/EmmanuelMacron

French President Emmanuel Macron sparked a Twitter frenzy in May by taking a garden stroll with the equally photogenic Justin Trudeau.

And now he's scored another online hit - by tweeting his official portrait.

Like many such pictures, the image shared on Thursday is a fairly formal shot of the president standing by his desk.

But that didn't stop the meme-creating masses from transplanting him to a range of alternative locations.

The hashtag #PoseTonMacron ("pose your Macron") quickly attracted submissions including Men In Black Macron, table football Macron, and Titanic Macron.

Mr Macron was photoshopped into an iconic shot from the film Titanic, standing on the prow of the boat with Leonardo DiCaprioTwitter/LeMendibilien
A photoshopped picture of President Macron on the Wolf of Wall Street film posterTwitter/Naodann
One tweeter Photoshopped Macron into a 'Men In black' poster next to actor Will SmithTwitter/MaxBook59
Mr Macron was posed as a table football playerTwitter/JuCarnon

The French leader's half-smile and wide-armed pose also popped up amid a haka with the New Zealand rugby team...

Mr Macron also cropped up in a shot of the New Zealand rugby team doing a hakaTwitter/airwone17

...in Teletubbyland, home of the much-loved children's TV characters...

The president made a great addition to the teletubbiesTwitter/Fraisedapunk

...and in a YMCA parody, which punned on the full name of his party, La République en marche (LREM).

"It's fun to stay at the LREM", observed tweeter Ian Maddison, photoshopping Mr Macron among the Village PeopleTwitter/IanMaddison

At time of writing, the president's tweet sharing the portrait has been "liked" 91,000 times and re-tweeted a further 30,000.

Offline, French media took a more analytical look at the picture. Many pounced on the presence of two smartphones next to Mr Macron's left hand, claiming they showed the new president wants to be an accessible, modern leader.

Some readers were sceptical. Surely the president had simply forgotten they were there?

Behind the scenes: Mr Macron takes care of the little things...

Mr Macron's media adviser answered that question later by tweeting a behind-the-scenes video which shows how the photo was taken. In it, the president can be seen thoughtfully arranging the phones and some books on his desk before posing.

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