PARIS, Feb 2, 2008 /FR/ — It happened this morning inside the French Presidential Palace of L’Elysée. Former supermodel turned pop singer Carla Bruni has married her boyfriend Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of the French Republic.
It was revealed this morning on French radio Europe 1 by François Lebel, the mayor of Paris 8th arrondissement in these words: “I married two voters of the 8th district who live at 55 rue du Faubourg Saint Honoré”. The address is well-known to Parisians as the official gate of the French President’s official residence.
An official press release from the President’s office simply stated: “”Ms Carla Bruni Tedeschi and Mr Nicolas Sarkozy would like to announce that they got married this morning in the presence of their families and in the utmost privacy”.
The wedding took place at 11:00 am in a room on the first floor of the Elysée Palace and lasted about 20 minutes. “The bride was in white, she was thrilling as usual, but the groom wasn’t bad either,” commented Lebel on Europe 1.
The last French head of state to marry while in office was Emperor Napoleon III in 1853. However it is the first time in the history of the French republic that a president has married during his presidential mandate.
Another radio station revealed later that Carla Bruni’s witness was her long-time friend Mathilde Agostinelli, head of communications at Prada France; Nicolas Bazire, a senior figure in the LVMH luxury goods group, played the same role on the side of the French President.
RTL Radio also quoted Bernadette Chirac, wife of previous French President Jacques Chirac, saying: «I want to express all my best wishes to this new household. She is very, very beautiful.”
Bruni is said to have met Sarkozy at a Paris dinner party organised by advertising mogul Jacques Séguéla in November, one month after his divorce with Cecilia, announced officially five months after taking over the French presidency in October, and after 11 years of marriage.
Carla Sarkozy is historically the 7th First Lady in France’s Fifth Republic, after Yvonne de Gaulle; Claude Pompidou, Anémone Giscard d’Estaing, Danielle Mitterrand, Bernadette Chirac and Cécilia Sarkozy.
[JEAN PAUL CAUVIN]
