Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s so-called “omnipresent” president, this week attended the G8 summit in Japan, addressed the European parliament in Strasbourg, and held a series of high-profile diplomatic meetings in Paris ahead of Sunday's’s grand launch of the Union for the Mediterranean.
Yet it was his willowy wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who bagged the prime-time interview on France’s main television channel on Friday night after launching her latest album of songs.
According to Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy, she and her husband may have followed different career paths but politics and show business are like two branches of the same industry.
“These are jobs in which it is very difficult to ignore image. Show business is almost only about that. As for politics, it consists of actions and symbols but nevertheless also has a lot to do with image,” she told Le Parisien newspaper this week. “And we both benefit from the interest and attention of the media.”
Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy, who married the French president in February after a lightning romance, has certainly benefited from an avalanche of publicity this week. The critics have generally praised her third album, which was pre-released on the internet before going on sale on Friday.
Ironically entitled “Comme si de rien n’était” (As if nothing was happening), the album contains 14 huskily whispered ballads including love songs to her husband.
“I put a stop/ to all my emblems/ to my career as an Amazon/ and to my sovereign freedom . . . I give you my body, my soul and my chrysanthemum,” she sings. “For I am yours/ you are my lord, you are my darling/ you are my orgy/ you are my folly.”
Mr Sarkozy has been publicly supportive of his wife pursuing her singing career even if it meant she was unable to accompany him to the G8 summit this week.
Some commentators have also suggested the Italian-born singer is redefining the role of France’s first lady in a refreshingly novel way and is adding a glamorous, modern dimension to her adopted country. Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy, who has now become a French citizen, is the personification of the French cultural embrace of outsiders.
But Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy’s role has also raised eyebrows in the socially conservative country and caused some diplomatic tut-tutting. The Colombian government has formally protested about one of her lyrics referring to a narcotic drug as “Colombian white”.
The first lady is, however, making some concessions to protocol. She has decided not to go on tour to promote the album and has promised to donate her share of the proceeds to charity.
Few doubt that Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy exerts enormous influence over her besotted husband. Le Point magazine recently ran a cover article hailing Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy as La Présidente.
A long-time socialist supporter, Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy has been critical of some of Mr Sarkozy’s government’s policies, particularly on immigration. But she has been fully supportive of her husband’s efforts to reform France – even if she has been unable to reverse his unpopularity, which has now fallen to record lows.
“He loves France and the French a lot,” she told Le Parisien. “He has a very strong sense of duty. And if people protest, it is directed more against the reforms than against him. Change is always difficult to accept but that is why he has been elected.”
