Cecilia Sarkozy

Paris, Oct. 7: Cecilia Sarkozy is “lukewarm” about living at the presidential residence she shares with her husband, a friend of France’s first lady has revealed.

“It is the image of France in the world but it is not necessarily a convivial place to live with her children,” said Isabelle Balkany. In comments that fuelled rumours that the Sarkozys’ marriage is on the rocks, Balkany added: “She is lukewarm about living there.”

In stark contrast with Cherie Blair’s appetite for life at Downing Street with her political spouse, the wife of President Nicolas Sarkozy is said to be far from comfortable in the sumptuous surroundings of the Elysée Palace in Paris.

Balkany, who emerged last week to make less-than-convincing claims that a mysterious “love letter” seen tucked under Sarkozy’s arm was in fact just an affectionate note sent by her to Cecilia, said that the couple preferred their home in the wealthy Paris suburb of Neuilly, where Sarkozy was formerly mayor.

Cecilia was also more comfortable at La Lanterne, a pretty villa attached to the Château de Versailles traditionally used as a retreat by the Prime Minister, she said.

At the end of a week when France’s rumour mill went into overdrive after Cecilia pulled out of an official trip to Sofia with her husband, Balkany’s other comments may also give the president cause to worry.

“She doesn’t feel she has entered into the history books. Her spouse, yes, and she is accompanying him… but that’s not what preoccupies her,” said Balkany, who is the vice-president of the local council in Hauts-de-Seine, west of Paris. “She isn’t a rebel just for the sake of being rebellious: she is free, that is the word.

“She is a woman with her own ideas and her own convictions which she defends. She doesn’t do just anything.” The first lady’s family was “her absolute priority”, said Balkany in a magazine interview.

“As in all recomposed families, it was necessary to face up to difficulties but she resolved them,” she added, in reference to the Sarkozys’ marriage after each had had children in previous partnerships.

The French President again cut a solitary figure last night as he attended the Rugby World Cup clash in Cardiff between France and New Zealand, although for once his wife's absence was not unexpected: she is not known to be a sports fan.