Nude photo of France's first lady to be auctioned

PARIS - A nude photo of France's first lady is to be auctioned off at a sale next month in New York City.

The image of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy was taken by photographer Michel Comte in 1993, when Bruni-Sarkozy was one of the world's most coveted models.

In the black-and-white photo, she strikes a pigeon-toed pose, her hands strategically positioned below her waist.

According to Christie's auction house, the photo is expected to fetch between three- and four-thousand dollars April 10th at New York's Rockefeller Plaza.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office is declining comment, saying it's a private matter.

Sarkozy divorced his second wife in October and married the Italian-born former model -- now a successful singer -- in February, after a quick courtship.

Bruni-Sarkozy is to undertake her first state visit as France's first lady tomorrow with a two-day trip to Britain.

There, she and her husband are slated to attend a lavish banquet put on by the Queen.

• 

  France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, and his new wife, former Italian model Carla Bruni, second left, walk in the park of the Chateau de Versailles, near the Lanterne, an official residence in Versailles, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008. As the couple strolled in Versailles on Sunday they were accompanied by Italian businessman Maurizio Remmert, right, who has reportedly claimed to be Bruni's biological father from an affair he had long ago with her mother, concert pianist Marysa Borini. At second right is Remmert's wife Marcia de Luca. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)