PARIS (AFP) — French first lady Cecilia Sarkozy will not accompany President Nicolas Sarkozy on a state visit to Morocco next week, his spokesman said Monday, again declining to comment on reports that they are getting a divorce.
"I have no comment to make on this issue," presidential spokesman David Martinon told journalists who asked about a spate of articles over the past week reporting that the couple had decided to end their 11-year marriage.
Sarkozy is due to pay a state visit to Morocco next week but the 49-year-old former model will not accompany him, breaking with protocol which provides for the president's wife to take part in such high-level trips.
"As far as I know, the wife of the president will not be on the trip," said Martinon. Sarkozy is due to visit Morocco on October 22 and 23.
La Tribune financial newspaper at the weekend quoted on its Internet site a "generally well-informed source" saying that a divorce will be officially declared by a court on Wednesday.
L'Est Republicain newspaper, which first reported on its website an imminent separation on Friday morning, said it stood by its story and that "the only question is how the Elysee will make the announcement."
Cecilia has barely been seen by his side since he took office in May, fuelling growing speculation that she is unhappy in her role as first lady and wants to separate.
The couple have had a turbulent relationship and split up for several months in 2005 when she ran off to New York with an advertising executive. Reports say Cecilia has recently been seen in Geneva and London.
Sarkozy married Cecilia Maria Sara Isabel Ciganer Albeniz in 1996 and the couple had a son, Louis, the following year. She has two daughters, Judith and Jeanne-Marie, from her first marriage to television presenter Jacques Martin.
Sarkozy has two sons, Pierre and Jean, from his first marriage.
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