Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni mark their first wedding anniversary today with the honeymoon still in full flow but the aura fading around France's new First Lady.

A year on from a palace marriage that was so private that no picture emerged, the previously free-spirited supermodel-singer has confounded sceptics and bestowed calm on a President whose behaviour had been verging on the erratic.

“Carlita” and “mon mari”, as the pair refer to each other, continue to gush like lovebirds about the improbable romance that began when they met at a dinner party in November 2007. “I am in love with mon mari,” Ms Bruni, 41, regularly tells interviewers. Nevertheless, the couple's celebrations today are expected to be low-key, given the financial gloom.

With her dressed-down look — dubbed “chic et sobre” — Ms Bruni is credited with conferring glamour on Mr Sarkozy, while softening his harsher side and winning him over to some of her left-wing causes. She has served as his envoy, meeting the Dalai Lama in his place last August, and has just embarked on her first official cause, promoting Aids relief.

Envy and a groundswell of left-wing contempt for the monarchical President have also turned Ms Bruni into a figure of fun. She is mimicked on a popular daily radio show as a goody-goody with an inaudible singing voice. A “Carla's Diary” on the front page of le Canard Enchaîné, the French equivalent of Private Eye, depicts her as a vapid champagne leftist.

Mr Sarkozy, 54, still seems unable to believe his luck in conquering one of the world's most desirable women only six weeks after Cécilia, his last wife, walked out of their marriage. He regularly seeks to remind the world of their relationship, raising eyebrows last month when he referred to Ms Bruni in a speech to military commanders defending his defence cuts.

“We still have regiments deployed [in the Alps] to ensure that we are not invaded by Italy. Well, the Italian Army never came but we got Carla,” he said to embarrassed laughter from the generals. In a similar vein, Mr Sarkozy likened himself and Ms Bruni to Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette when he mused about the difficulty of governing his rebellious and fickle people. “Look at Louis and his young wife. They were at first adored but they still ended up on the block,” he said.

Such remarks are fodder for Mr Sarkozy's foes, such as Ségolène Royal, the Socialist, who depict him as a self-obsessed adolescent. However, people close to the couple say Ms Bruni's influence is wholly positive. Jean Reno, the film actor who is a friend of both, said that Ms Bruni had lifted Mr Sarkozy's spirits: “He was very sad after the divorce. It was difficult for him. Carla is very good for him.”

Julie Imperiali, a fitness coach whom Ms Bruni introduced to her new husband, told The Times: “The marriage calmed the President. Carla has a very healthy way of life. She is not a party animal. They are very complementary. You can feel their complicity, the way they take care of each other.”

Mr Sarkozy, who has regained positive approval ratings despite the economic gloom, has praised his wife's influence. “We have a quiet life, we have settled in,” he told Le Point magazine. “I have nothing to complain about. She is great. I accord a lot of importance to what she tells me. Her views broaden my perspective, my thoughts.”

Ms Bruni acknowledged that marriage had changed her public behaviour. “Now I pay attention when I talk. I don't joke so easily. When I mention a country I avoid saying anything that could wound or shock.”

Times Recommends

• Cairo women fight back against harassment
• Weapons-grade flirting for Hillary and David
• More at stake in Start talks than US and Russia