First lady of France having a baby

PARIS – The expectant granddad has spilled the beans: Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is pregnant.

Germany’s top-selling newspaper on Tuesday quoted President Nicolas Sarkozy’s father as saying that France’s first lady is having a baby. And one of her predecessors says a child at the presidential palace will be wonderful for the whole country.

“It’s wonderful news to see this baby coming. It’s a chance for France, absolutely,” Bernadette Chirac, wife of ex-French President Jacques Chirac, told reporters in Paris on Tuesday at an event for a literacy foundation hosted by Bruni-Sarkozy.

Bruni-Sarkozy, also attending the event, wouldn’t respond to questions about the pregnancy. Sarkozy’s office also refused comment.

Germany’s Bild newspaper quoted Pal Sarkozy as saying: “Neither wants to know the gender beforehand, but I’m certain it will be a girl, and beautiful like Carla.”

Reports of her pregnancy first surfaced in late April, when gossip magazine Closer ran a story saying the 43-year-old first lady was three months pregnant. The magazine said that officials were keeping it under wraps because her age makes it a high-risk pregnancy.

Bruni-Sarkozy and Sarkozy married in early 2008 – less than a year after he took office. She has a son from an earlier relationship, and Sarkozy has three sons from his two previous marriages.