What's the Protocol for a Presidential Girlfriend?
Sarkozy and model Carla Bruni set tongues wagging during international trip.
Jan. 14, 2008 — -- The French have always had a certain je ne sais quois about "affairs of state."
"We all know our presidents and kings have a, how do you say, bumpy and active love life," said Gilles Bouleau, the bureau chief of TF1 French television.
French President François Mitterrand had a relatively open affair with his mistress, Anne Pingeot. Pingeot and their daughter, Mazarine, attended his funeral in 1996, as did Mitterand's wife and their children.
Still, France's current president, the thrice-married Nicolas Sarkozy, nicknamed "bling bling" for his love of anything that dazzles, seems determined to test the limits.
He met Italian beauty Carla Bruni at a dinner party in November, a month after his divorce, and the heiress, former model, singer and one-time girlfriend of rockers Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton has not been off his arm since.
There is even talk of marriage and rumors of a baby on the way. But what is the protocol for the girlfriend of a head of state?
Sarkozy and Bruni have been making waves while traveling around the world. On a recent trip to Egypt Bruni draped herself on the president's shoulder in front of the pyramids and left local officials gasping about an unmarried couple sharing a room.
Sarkozy, who visited Saudi Arabia this weekend, was told by Saudi officials to leave his paramour at home. Indians are already wringing their hands about how to treat a visiting girlfriend in a visit planned later this month.
Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles faced the same sort of situation before they were married.
Bruni is sporting a pink Dior diamond ring, and rumors are floating that the couple may wed as soon as February.
That would be just in time for Sarkozy's planned trip to England in March where there is some concern that the French president and Bruni might offend the queen's sensibilities if they ask to stay in the same room.
Even fellow Frenchmen think it's time for the pair to tone it down.
"I think he should get married as soon as possible," Bouleau said. "This is my advice to the French president."
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