Carla Bruni-Sarkozy shows off baby bump in Deauville
Posing in a white smock dress over a clear bump around the midriff, the 43-year-old even gestured to her swelling stomach and smiled as she posed for photographs with leaders' wives in the Normandy resort of Deauville.
Svetlana Medvedev, wife of the Russian president, then presented the wife of President Nicolas Sarkozy with a bouquet of flowers.
Geertrui Van Rompuy, the wife of the European Council president Herman Van Rompuy, could then be heard mentioning the word "baby" to which Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy clearly replied: "It's hiding. Sooner or later it's going to come out."
She was later seen in a black dress with her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy, who appeared to place a protective hand on her as she walked in front of him.
Jacques Séguéla, an advertising tycoon who brought the presidential couple together in 2007 at a dinner party, disclosed earlier this week that Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy is expecting a son.
The child will be the couple's first together and fifth son between them should predictions over the gender of the baby-to-be prove accurate.
Mr Sarkozy, 55, has two sons, Pierre, 25, and Jean, 23, from his first marriage to Marie-Dominique Culioli, who he divorced in 1996.
He has a 13-year-old son Louis from his second marriage to Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz, who he divorced in 2007.
Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy has a nine-year-old son Aurélien with the media philosopher Raphael Enthöven.
She has kept France in suspense for weeks, neither personally confirming she was pregnant, nor forcefully denying it. She told Le Parisien newspaper last month: "My lips are sealed to protect something."
But her father-in-law 83-year-old father Pal Sarkozy let the cat out of the bag earlier this month when he announced he was "mad with joy" that they were expecting a child.
An Elysée adviser was yesterday quoted as saying: "The plan had been for Carla Bruni to show her round tummy at the G8 in Deauville. It was to have been proof through pictures".
Sociologists and pollsters have said the pregnancy could boost Mr Sarkozy's chances of re-election next year, giving him extra "father of the nation" appeal.
He will sorely need it, as the President is trailing far behind the two main potential Socialist presidential candidates in polls for the elections next April and June.
Mr Sarkozy, 55, has two sons, Pierre, 25, and Jean, 23, from his first marriage to Marie-Dominique Culioli, who he divorced in 1996.
He has a 13-year-old son Louis from his second marriage to Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz, who he divorced in 2007.
Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy has a nine-year-old son Aurélien with the media philosopher Raphael Enthöven.
She has kept France in suspense for weeks, neither personally confirming she was pregnant, nor forcefully denying it. She told Le Parisien newspaper last month: "My lips are sealed to protect something."
But her father-in-law 83-year-old father Pal Sarkozy let the cat out of the bag earlier this month when he announced he was "mad with joy" that they were expecting a child.
An Elysée adviser was yesterday quoted as saying: "The plan had been for Carla Bruni to show her round tummy at the G8 in Deauville. It was to have been proof through pictures".
Sociologists and pollsters have said the pregnancy could boost Mr Sarkozy's chances of re-election next year, giving him extra "father of the nation" appeal.
He will sorely need it, as the President is trailing far behind the two main potential Socialist presidential candidates in polls for the elections next April and June.
