The SUNDAY OBSERVER: President Nicolas Sarkozy and model Carla Bruni married yesterday following a whirlwind romance that has divided France, reports Jason Burke in Paris
And so, in the intimacy of his own home, Nicolas Sarkozy, 53, Co-Prince of Andorra, Commander of the Ordre de Léopold, Grand Master of the Legion d'Honneur, sixth President of the Fifth French Republic, divorced father of three, said 'I do'. And Carla Bruni, successful singer songwriter, former top model, heiress to the fortune of an Italian tyre manufacturer, 40-year-old single mother, said 'I do' too. And afterwards everyone stayed for a glass of orange squash.
'It was exceptional,' François Lebel, the mayor who conducted the ceremony, said with considerable understatement. 'I married two electors of the 8th arrondissement who live at 55, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré [the Elysée palace]. The bride wore white, she was ravishing, as usual... The groom wasn't bad either.'
Lebel said the ceremony, which took place at 11am on the first floor of the palace, lasted about 20 minutes and was 'a moment of family intimacy for the young newlyweds, of great simplicity and a lot of evident affection and emotion between the spouses'. Around 20 people were present.
Sarkozy, who was dressed in suit and tie for his marriage, could not devote the entire day to celebrations as he was distracted by a breaking crisis in Chad, the former French colony in central Africa. As rebels penetrated Chad's capital, Sarkozy called a meeting at the Elysée Palace and spoke by telephone with Chad's President.
Quite whether the well-wishers will include 63 million fellow French citizens - or even the 53 per cent of voters who elected Sarkozy president in a hard-fought election last year - remains to be seen. The frenetically energetic right-winger's approval ratings have plunged in recent weeks, partly due to his failure to boost the French economy as promised but equally because of widespread disapproval of his disregard for long-held traditions. 'The bride wore white; she was ravishing, as usual. The groom wasn't bad either' >>>
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