Stepping into her new role as First Lady of France, former model Carla Bruni is looking to present herself in a more demure light as she and her new husband, French president Nicolas Sarkozy, made their first state visit to Britain this morning. However, Vogue reports that the British press have today published a naked image of her, which is due to go up for auction as part of the Gert Elfering sale at Christie's next month.

"Carla is very angry, not to say deeply upset, that a commercial organisation has chosen to release this print at such an important time," an aide is reported to have commented.

A spokesperson for Christie's has defended the move stating: "It's a work of art... It was shot in 1993 when Ms. Bruni was a model and it's a tasteful nude portrait executed by a well-known, respectable artist."

Despite the emergence of the nude image, the First Lady and Prime Minister received a warm welcome from the Royal Family.