But coming from former couture model Cecilia Sarkozy, there was a general acceptance that the feisty first lady and mother-of-three was playing by her own rules yet again, subtly reminding her husband that although he may hold the office, she still has the power to do whatever the hell she wants.

Rebellious, independent, stylish, sulky and with a remarkable ability to hold a grudge, Cecilia has been thrown, not unwillingly, into the spotlight as her husband has made his way up the ladder of French politics.

It was her independent ways that had her in the headlines last week, when she apologised for not attending a lunch organised by George and Laura Bush . . .

she said she had a sore throat but was still well enough to go shopping both the day before the lunch and the day after. Cynics were unimpressed.

"Cecilia has set a new record for making a swift recovery, " a news reporter noted dryly on French Inter radio.

From walking out on her first marriage to marry the man who had officiated at the wedding, to playing a role in freeing the medics who were being held in Libya on charges of infecting children with HIV, Cecilia has always done things on her own terms.

Born in Paris in 1957 to a Russian father and a Spanish mother, she has boasted of how there isn't "a drop of French blood" in her veins, yet she often appears more French than the French. Her early years were a study in middleclass life in Paris. She studied piano while attending a plush Catholic secondary school in the 16th district, before beginning a law degree in Assas University on the Left Bank.

However, in what was to become a recurring theme, she walked away from the degree when it began to bore her, opting instead to become a couture model for a fashion house.

Always striking rather than attractive, she married her first husband, Jacques Martin, when she was just 24. He was the Bruce Forsyth of French television game shows who intrigued her by offering her a route into the world of celebrity. They got married in a civil ceremony in 1984, just 10 days before the birth of their first child.

As was required by French law, the local mayor oversaw the ceremony. At the time, this was 29-year-old Nicolas Sarkozy, the ambitious young politician who had recently become the youngest mayor in France. He has since described how taken he was with her at the wedding:

"What was I doing, marrying her to another man? I fell in love with her immediately. I thought, 'I must have that woman. She's mine.'" Nicolas was also married at the time.

The two sets of couples became friends, socialising and holidaying together. It's not clear at what stage the attraction became mutual but at some point an affair began between Nicolas and Cecilia, lasting for several years. When their spouses eventually found out, Cecilia's husband granted her a quick divorce, but Nicolas's wife resisted for over five years, of which time Cecilia has noted: "Life was hell. Everybody was pointing the finger at us. I was looked down on." Eventually, in 1996, the couple were married.

Even by French standards, which are usually accepting of open and unconventional marriages, theirs has been a turbulent coupling. He has had discreet affairs; hers have been less so. In 2005, she was pictured on the cover of Paris-Match, supposedly flat-hunting in New York with her lover. She described to friends at the time how she was sick of Nicolas treating her as "part of the furniture".

She wasn't seen with her husband for six months, leading to suggestions she had permanently left him. Eventually, grudgingly, after much persuading by Nicolas, she accepted him back.

Since they got back together, she has ensured she is publicly seen to do things on her own terms. She didn't show up at the inauguration ball she had organised for Nicolas on the day he was elected president; she was the only spouse who didn't attend a dinner for G8 leaders and their partners last year; and she didn't even vote for her husband in the deciding round of the presidential elections. When she eventually showed up on the night he was inaugurated, she was sullen and sulking, clearly unhappy to be there.

Perhaps some of the animosity arises from the uncertainty over her role. She has described how uninspiring she finds the idea of being 'the president's wife': "Being the first lady, honestly, is a bore, " she said in a 2005 interview. "I'm not politically correct. I don't fit the mould." This could explain her unexpected intervention in the case of the Bulgarian medics being held in Libya last month. Was it her husband's attempt to push her into a career of international diplomacy? It's unclear . . . what is known is that she made two trips to Libya in July to push for the release of the medics . . . and even managed the coup of getting them flown home to Bulgaria on board a French presidential plane.

Not everyone was happy with her intervention. The Guardian sneered: "Who can doubt that the old scoundrel Muammar Gadafy's head was turned by the close attentions of this beautiful wife of a new and vibrant foreign president?" Others were less pleased at the credit she took for resolving the near-decade-old case, eclipsing the work of the delicate diplomatic negotiations that EU diplomats had been carrying out for years.

Just as it did with Segolene Royal, the French media has accepted Cecilia, even as the international press falls over itself to examine her and the role she plays in Nicolas's life. 'Is Nicolas Sarkozy's wife his femme fatale?' and 'Cecilia, you're breaking all the rules' are typical of the coverage in British papers in recent weeks.

French newspapers have been more appreciative, with one hailing her as the 'Jackie Kennedy a la Francaise'. TheNew York Times has described how she and her husband, "have worked long and hard to portray themselves as the ultimate power couple of France."

Nicolas has said there will be an announcement next month about what exactly Cecilia's plans for the role of first lady will be. Whatever she chooses, it's not going to be dull.

CV
Born: Paris, 1957
Former jobs: Law student, couture model, PR assistant, political aide to her husband, French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
In the news because: she dodged a lunch with George Bush and she has been summoned to appear at a Libyan inquiry into the release of medics charged with infecting children with HIV.