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Sarkozy Announces Split
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cécilia are to separate after eleven years of marriage, the Elysée Palace announced at noon today.
The 15-word declaration ends a week of fevered speculation in the French press that the Sarkozy's turbulent marriage had ended. Yesterday, we reported on a story in a French newspaper which confirmed that the Sarkozys had visited a divorce judge on Monday: An "official" announcement was expected at any day.
While Cécilia was seen as a crucial adviser to Sarkozy and then an important part of his political team, their relationship did not recover following a ten-month split in 2005. Cécilia was photographed in New York with another man; Sarkozy was said to have had an affair with a journalist, in the French political tradition.
She did not vote for her husband in the second round of the Presidential election this spring; she was also embarrassingly absent from his side at international summits - indeed, the pair had not been photographed at an official engagement since Bastille Day (July 14).
The statement from the President's office says that the split is "by mutual consent" and adds that there is no further comment to be made (Cécilia et Nicolas Sarkozy annoncent leur séparation par consentement mutuel. Ils ne feront aucun commentaire).
The separation will doubtless be painful for Sarkozy, but the timing of the announcement is sweet: Today, speculation of the state of France's First Couple's marriage vied with coverage of a national strike by transport workers for the front pages of the nation's newspapers. A portrait of Cécilia pouts from the front page of Paris Match, with an interview conducted as rumours about her marriage gripped the press.
