Pregnant pauses mar Carla Bruni’s first eye to eye with new Brit PM’s wife

British and French first ladies appeared to suffer a tense day of pregnant pauses and strained exchanges together at an official ceremony.

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and her husband, French president Nicolas Sarkozy, joined UK prime minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha in London.

The couples attended a ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of General Charles de Gaulle's call to resist the Nazi occupation of France.

Initially, the two ladies were quick to smile for official pictures, as their husbands seized the opportunity to celebrate Franco-British friendship.

However, video footage and photographs of more personal moments suggested Bruni-Sarkozy and Cameron were struggling to get along.

In fact, at one uncomfortable moment, the Italian singer and model flicked a fly off Mrs Cameron's dress.

The PM's pregnant wife beamed a smile back at first, but it was followed by a series of nervy expressions.

The wives were sitting side-by-side at the ceremony, at Royal Hospital Chelsea, but their rigid body language implied they would have rather been elsewhere.