First glimpse of Giulia as mother Carla heads home

IT was only the faintest of glimpses, but it was the picture the world’s press had been waiting for.

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy was pictured heading home with her new-born girl Giulia, the first baby born to a sitting French president.

Bruni-Sarkozy left the Clinique de la Muette yesterday with her newborn daughter and bodyguards, after giving birth on Wednesday.

President Nicolas Sarkozy said he and his wife felt a “very profound happiness” following the birth of their first child together.

He has three sons from his two previous marriages. She has one son from a previous relationship.

When the first lady gave birth, Sarkozy was in Frankfurt for an emergency meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, trying to solve the deepening European debt crisis.

Bruni-Sarkozy announced the baby’s name on her official website last week as she thanked well-wishers for their support following the birth.

She wrote: “I am deeply touched by the many messages of congratulations that I have received since the birth of our daughter.

“On this happy occasion, my husband joins me in expressing our warmest thanks to all those of you who sent us these tokens of your kindness.”

Merkel gave a teddy bear to Sarkozy as a gift to his newborn daughter, a kind gesture tendered amid a no-holds-barred EU summit held in Brussels yesterday.