Cosy images of France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and his former model companion Carla Bruni sightseeing with her young son are fuelling reports the couple could tie the knot as early as next month.
According to the French media, a trip down the aisle has been booked for February 8 or 9 - a date which has not been denied by Mr Sarkozy's spokesman.
Meanwhile, British newspapers are speculating that the move to formalise the relationship is so the Italian beauty can be received by the Queen during the French premier's state visit to Britain in March.
At the weekend the couple - who met at a dinner toward the end of last year - certainly looked like a family unit as they toured the ancient Jordanian city of Petra. At one point, the powerful politician even hoisted six-year-old Aurelien, whose father is a well-known French philosopher, on his shoulders.
Talk of wedding bells for the pair has been in the air ever since Carla's mother, Marisa Tedeschi Bruni, told newspapers the statesman had asked for her daughter's hand. "I said to him, 'Monsieur le President I have no reason to refuse'," she revealed, adding: "Carla is living an authentic love story."
Photo: © Alphapress.com
