The Sarko show

August 2005: The thrusting young interior minister rides high in the polls and is hotly tipped to take over from Jacques the Lad. So the last thing he needs is his wife, Cécilia, splashed all over the front of Paris Match with her long-rumoured lover, the multimillionaire Richard Attias Photograph: Public domain

February 2006: Together again. Reunited at the Elysée palace for a state dinner for Belgium's King Albert II. Cécilia has ditched Richard, Nicolas has dumped Figaro journalist Anna F (yes, we know her full name, but Nic's not too keen on us revealing it). Did you ever see a happier couple? Photograph: Alexander Hassenstein/Getty

August 2007: Off to the US. Sarko l'Américain, finally president of France, goes boating off Kennebunkport, on board a vessel named (we're not making this up) the Fidelity III - with George W! And George W's dad! But where's Cécilia? Photograph: Robert F Bukaty/AP

October 2007: The strain begins to tell. Nicolas tears off his microphone and storms out of a CBS interview for being asked about his marriage. Cécilia has not been seen in public since about July. On October 18 their divorce is made official Photograph: AFP

November 2007: Nicolas takes his two sons by his first marriage on a state visit to Morocco, then his mum, 81, on a trade mission to China, a country “known to venerate the elderly” where France is hoping to win £15bn worth of contracts. President Hu Jintao gives the first mother a shawl Photograph: Francois Mori/AFP

Two days after his relationship with supermodel-turned-singer Carla Bruni is confirmed, off pops Nicolas for a private audience with the Pope. France needs devout Catholics who say what they believe, he tells the pontiff. You have to admit it: the guy's got style Photograph: Alberto Pizzoli/AP

France's new first couple, on their hols in Egypt on Boxing Day. The French press reckons they're to wed in February; Nicolas is feeding the rumours. He has shed 17 points in the polls, Cécilia's preparing her memoirs. This one's going to run and run ... Photograph: Ben Curtis/AP