Galaki on 24 March 2008
By SUSAN BELLFormer first lady ties the knot and cocks a snook at French president
CÉCILIA Ciganer-Albeniz, the former wife of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, was last night due to marry Richard Attias, for whom she left her husband for several months in 2005.The former French first lady was expected to tie the knot yesterday with Moroccan-born Mr Attias in New York in a civil ceremony in the exclusive Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan. The marriage ceremony was to be followed by a cocktail and gala dinner for 150 guests in the skyscraper's elegant Rainbow Room.
The exact details of the event were not known, and earlier reports said the couple would attend a religious ceremony at a synagogue on Fifth Avenue.
Ms Ciganer-Albeniz, 50, and Mr Attias, 48, an events organiser, flew to New York from Paris on Wednesday to finalise preparations for the celebrations, which kicked off with a party on Friday at Mr Attias's £1.5 million home in Greenwich, Connecticut, one of the wealthiest towns in the United States.
On Saturday, the couple and a group of their guests attended the Broadway show Mamma Mia! after dining together at a local steakhouse.
Reports in the French press suggested Ms Ciganer-Albeniz had moved the couple's wedding forward several months in order to get "revenge" on her ex-husband after he married Carla Bruni, a model-turned-singer, just three months after their divorce.
Earlier this year, the former first lady of France tried to force a ban on an unauthorised biography in which she is quoted as describing the president as "stingy", "a womaniser" and "a man who loves no-one, not even his own children".
The French media has reported that the couple will return to Paris, where they will live in a restored mansion house in the wealthy suburb of Neuilly, Mr Sarkozy's former fief.
Rumours that the couple would marry had been circulating for months on the internet.
Versace, the Italian couturier, confirmed the event earlier this month, announcing that the fashion house would dress the couple for the occasion. Ms Ciganer-Albeniz was reported to be furious that Versace had used media interest in their wedding for the label's own promotion without consulting the couple.
Mr Sarkozy and Ms Ciganer-Albeniz announced their divorce on 18 October last year, ending months of speculation that they would separate after an increasingly stormy 11-year marriage. The couple have one son, Louis, now aged 11. Ms Ciganer-Albeniz has two daughters, Judith, 23, and Jeanne-Marie, 20, from her first marriage to television presenter Jacques Martin.
