They had a glitzy, jet-setting courtship, but when it came time
for the wedding, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and former
supermodel Carla Bruni opted for a simple, classic ceremony and the
bride wore white.
Sarkozy, 53, and Bruni, 40, were married Saturday in a small
private ceremony at the presidential Elysee Palace, less than three
months after they reportedly first met, and less than four months
after his divorce from the previous first lady, Cecilia.
The newlyweds said in a statement only that they tied the knot
"in the presence of their families in the strictest privacy." The
mayor who performed the ceremony filled in the details.
"The bride wore white; she was ravishing, as usual," Francois
Lebel, mayor of Paris' eighth arrondissement, or neighborhood, told
Europe-1 radio. The groom wore a suit and tie, and he "wasn't bad
either," Lebel said.
About 20 friends and family members attended the 20-minute
official ceremony in an Elysee drawing room, Le Bel said. He
referred to Sarkozy and Bruni as "young newlyweds" and said the
wedding showed "great simplicity and apparently a lot of affection
between the spouses."
French President Nicolas
Sarkozy (L), his girlfriend Carla Bruni (R) and her young son
Aurelien (top) visit the ancient Jordanian ruins of Petra January
5, 2008. (photo: agencies via China Daily)
Under French law, couples must marry before a mayor to make
their union official. Usually weddings take place at a city hall,
with an official wedding announcement published beforehand, but
Sarkozy and Bruni apparently had a dispensation to maintain their
privacy.
On a busy day, Sarkozy squeezed the ceremony in amid official
business. Addressing a crisis in the former French colony of Chad,
where rebels penetrated the capital, Sarkozy also called a meeting
at the Elysee Palace and spoke by telephone with Chad's
president.
As of Saturday evening, no images of the ceremony had leaked to
media. The small wedding contrasted with their highly publicized
romance, which surprised many French, accustomed to presidents
keeping their love lives under wraps.
At a news conference in January, Sarkozy revealed that his
relationship with the blue-eyed singer and former model was
"serious" and hinted that wedding plans were in the works, though
he did not reveal a date.
Sarkozy and Bruni carried out their courtship in such public
locations as Disneyland Paris and the ruins of Petra, Jordan. The
tabloids even showed the couple at an Egyptian beach resort, Bruni
clad in a tiny black bikini, Sarkozy in trunks, gold chain and
Ray-Ban sunglasses.
Sarkozy's approval ratings dropped while they were dating in
part, analysts say, because older, more traditional voters were put
off by the budding romance and by Sarkozy's glitzy style.
During their courtship, Sarkozy was nicknamed the "bling-bling
president" by the media as the couple flew in a private jet
borrowed from a billionaire investor and reportedly lavished each
other with expensive presents.
Their relationship proved tricky for protocol planners in
foreign countries Sarkozy visited. Before a visit to Saudi Arabia,
a senior official in the Gulf state urged Sarkozy to respect
conservative Islamic culture by leaving his girlfriend at home. She
did not accompany him.
Being married will end such concerns.
"First off, he wanted to (tie the knot), and it also helps
clarify things," Patrick Balkany, a lawmaker and friend of
Sarkozy's, told RTL radio.
Former first lady Bernadette Chirac, congratulating the couple,
said being president is easier with the support of a spouse.
Sarkozy was not the first French president to marry in office:
Gaston Doumergue tied the knot at the Elysee Palace in 1931.
The wedding was the third for Sarkozy, who has three sons. It
was the first for Bruni, an Italian-born heiress whose mother is a
concert pianist and whose late father was an industrialist at the
head of a tire company, as well as a composer. Bruni grew up in
France, where her family fled for fear of the Red Brigades, a
left-wing terrorist group active in Italy in the 1970s.
As a young woman, the brunette with high cheekbones had a major
modeling career and the love life to go with it. Bruni dated
rockers Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, tycoon Donald Trump and actor
Vincent Perez. She has a young son, Aurelien, from a relationship
with philosophy professor Raphael Enthoven.
In interviews well before she began dating Sarkozy, Bruni often
talked freely of her love life, reportedly telling Madame
Figaro magazine that she was "bored to death by monogamy."
Bruni has reinvented herself as a singer in recent years. French
news reports have said the Elysee Palace is being fit with a
recording studio for the new first lady.
(Agencies via China Daily February 3, 2008)
