Sarkozy's ex-wife set to remarry

New York: The former wife of Nicolas Sarkozy is to remarry in New York on Sunday, a wedding which friends claimed was brought forward "in revenge" for the French president's recent marriage to Carla Bruni.

Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz, 50, will marry Richard Attias, 48, a Moroccan-born multi-millionaire events organiser with whom she had an affair while married to Sarkozy. It will be her third marriage.

The couple held a party on Friday night at Attias's home in Greenwich, Connecticut, and watched a Broadway show with friends last evening, according to a website for French expatriates.

The wedding will be followed by a reception for 150 guests at the Rockefeller Centre in Manhattan.

Ciganer-Albeniz and Sarkozy ended their 11-year marriage last October. Within four months, Sarkozy married Bruni, the Italian-born former supermodel. There have been reports that the future Mr and Mrs Attias are looking to buy an apartment in New York's former Plaza Hotel building off Central Park.

Their attempts to keep details of their wedding secret have been thwarted at every turn. Last week, she fired Versace after it publicised not only the fact that it was making the wedding outfits, but also disclosed the date and place of the event.

Another remaining blank in the marriage details -the wedding list - has been disclosed by the chic French department store Au Bon Marche.

Its wedding gift website shows the couple's list is relatively modest. The most expensive single item is a £313 (Dh2,316) duvet. Also available is a pair of Ralph Lauren pillow cases at £37, a Wedgewood sugar bowl at £79 and a variety of spoons.

In an interview for a book published in January, which she later tried to ban, Ciganer-Albeniz said that Attias was the only man that she had truly loved.