Henriette Caillaux (5 December 1874 – 29 January 1943) was a Parisian socialite and second wife of the former Prime Minister of France, Joseph Caillaux. On March 16, 1914, she shot and killed Gaston Calmette, editor of the newspaper Le Figaro. Early life and marriages Henriette Caillaux was born Henriette Raynouard, at Rueil-Malmaison on 5 December 1874. At the age of 19, she married Léo Claretie, a writer twelve years her senior. They had two children. In 1907 she began an affair with Joseph Caillaux while both he and she were still married. In 1908, she divorced Claretie; Caillaux had more difficulties in divorcing his wife, but he eventually did so and they married in October 1911. She claimed she found in her second marriage "the most complete happiness"; their joint assets were worth around 1.5 million francs, placing them among France's wealthiest couples and allowing them to live in what she described as "great comfort". The circumstances of the marriage, along with substantial public scrutiny by political enemies, however, opened up lines of attack against the couple in terms of moral corruption. Shooting of Gaston Calmette Background While serving as Minister of Finance, Caillaux came under bitter attack from his political foes. The editor of the Le Figaro newspaper, Gaston Calmette, was a severe critic. Calmette received a letter belonging to Caillaux that journalistic etiquette at the time dictated should not be published. In the letter, Caillaux appeared to admit having orchestrated the rejection of a tax bill while publicly pretending to support it. Calmette published the letter at a time when Caillaux, in his capacity as Minister of Finance, was trying to get a progressive taxation law passed by the French Senate. The publication of his letter severely tarnished Caillaux's reputation and caused a great political upheaval. The shooting Henriette Caillaux believed that Calmette would publish other private letters that would demonstrate that Caillaux and she had had an intimate relationship while he was still married to his first wife. She felt the only way for her husband to defend his reputation would be to challenge Calmette to a duel, which, one way or another, would destroy her and her husband's life. Madame Caillaux made the decision to protect her beloved husband by sacrificing herself. In the evening of 16 March 1914, Madame Caillaux entered the offices of Le Figaro wearing a large fur coat with her hands