The ex-supermodel dazzled everyone last week when she flew in for a state visit with her new husband, France's President Nicolas Sarkozy.

While women enviously eyed the former Ms Bruni's willowy figure, designer wardrobe and immaculate grooming, the men she met - from Prince Charles to the Prime Minister - just looked hopelessly smitten. Even the Queen's husband seemed enchanted by France's new First Lady.

The Duke of Edinburgh accompanied Carla in the Scottish State Coach as the royal welcoming procession rolled up the Long Walk into Windsor Castle quadrangle. The two then chatted together, pausing only when La Marseillaise was played.

By the end of the day, when they entered the state banquet at Windsor, it appeared the 86-year-old Iron Duke had completely melted under Carla's charm.

Prince Charles seemed equally taken with Italian-born beauty Carla. Welcoming the French guests at Heathrow, the Prince pressed her black-gloved hand to his lips with true Continental finesse.

Unfortunately for Carla, just 24 hours earlier Christie's auction house had released a pre-sale photograph of the First Lady wearing nothing but a smouldering look. It will go under the hammer in New York shortly.

Anxious to prove that the photo, taken 15 years ago, was a part of her rock-chick past and not her present - and conscious of her husband's declining popularity in French opinion polls - Carla defied her critics, slipping into her new public role as easily as she once glided down the fashion catwalks.

If the saucy shot was intended to embarrass the third Madame Sarkozy, it backfired, as it only heightened interest in her visit to our shores. Indeed, the eyes of the world's press were on London and its elegant guests. In America, the LA Times ran a front-page story on the visit with the headline "French First Lady Carla Steals Princess Di's Couture Crown". France's Le Figaro, meanwhile, simply declared the 40-year-old was "Queen of the Day".

As gun salutes by the King's Troop, the Royal Horse Artillery, boomed out across the Windsor Castle grounds, 53-year-old Mr Sarkozy, the son of a Hungarian refugee, swelled with pride at having such a dazzling wife. Even though 5ft 9in Carla towered above the 5ft 5in President - despite him wearing stacked heels - he couldn't have seemed happier. At every opportunity, Mr Sarkozy clasped his wife's hand and beamed at her.

Keeping to her timeless style, the Queen greeted the couple wearing a multi-coloured wool tweed coat trimmed with black velvet and a matching brown sinamay feathered hat by the in-house design team of Kelly and Pordum.

Despite having received guidance on protocol, Carla still needed some help from the monarch.

During the welcoming ceremony, the Queen gently stopped Carla when she attempted to follow her husband to inspect a guard of honour.

Meanwhile, standing some yards away with several French cabinet ministers and the rest of the President's entourage was Carla's mother, Marisa Borini Tedeschi, who had also joined the carriage procession. A family illness forced the President's own mother, Andree, to drop out of the trip at the last minute.

After a private lunch, the guests and their hosts exchanged gifts. The Queen gave the President, a keen philatelist, framed blocks of stamps issued in 2004 to commemorate the centenary of the entente cordiale while Carla received a carriage clock. The Queen also bestowed on Mr Sarkozy the honorary title of Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath.

The President responded by giving the Queen the book Perfect Knowledge of Horses, published in French in 1743 by Jean de Saunier, Louis XV's general inspector of horses, as well as two Lalique crystal equine sculptures. The Duke was presented with a bronze statuette of a hunting dog.

The visitors were then shown an exhibition of memorabilia from the Royal Collection covering visits by past French heads of state.

Next, the President and his wife were whisked away to lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unkown Soldier in Westminster Abbey, before visiting the Palace of Westminster, where Mr Sarkozv addressed both Houses of Parliament, receiving a standing ovation.

Throughout the day, the President repeated his wish that Britain and France's relationship should turn from an entente cordiale into an entente amicale, to which Prime Minister Gordon Brown responded that it would be "formidable".

The highlight of the stay at Windsor came when the President and his wife sat down to dine in St George's Hall with 12 members of the royal family, including the Princess Royal, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, along with 146 other guests.

"C'est Parfait," said Mr Sarkozy, admiring the centrepiece of the dining table, a silver gilt George IV candelabra. Pointing out the massed bouquets surrounding it, the Queen warned that two microphones were hidden in among the flowers - every word they said could be recorded. However, this did not prevent her from leaning across the French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, to tell Princess Anne that the Prime Minister had "got lost" on his way to the banquet. Mr Brown had taken a wrong turning in the maze of rooms inside the castle and "disappeared", she added.

Preparations for the dinner required almost 300 members of the royal household to perfect every detail. It had taken almost two days to set the dining table with Serves China, a gift from Louis XVI to the Duchess of Manchester in 1783, and Garter crystal and coronation glassware. Stich was the attention to detail that the Yeoman of the Glass and China Pantry even took his shoes off and climbed onto the mahogany dining table to make the finishing touches.

Final approval came just an hour before the guests arrived, when the Queen herself checked the flower arrangements and the place settings.

Before the diners enjoyed their first course of fillet of brill followed by Scottish lamb and then an upmarket version of rhubarb and custard, the Queen delivered a welcoming speech, declaring that Eurostar and Airbus were just two of the successful Anglo-French collaborations.

"Close as neighbours, closer as partners, growing closer still as friends, our nations have much to celebrate," she added..

Speaking in French, the President replied: "Your Majesty's extremely warm words of welcome go straight to my heart."

The President and Madame Sarkozy spent only one night at Windsor Castle, leaving soon after 10am the next morning. They spent the next day in London, first laying a wreath at the statue of General de Gaulle in Carlton Gardens before driving on to Downing Street for separate talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his wife, Sarah.

Proceeding on to Arsenal's Emirates Stadium in north London, the President met his countryman, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who led him on to the hallowed turf. Later, giving a press conference with Mr. Brown, the President stianned the audience of reporters by declaring his love and admiration for his wife. Breaking off from discussing the strengthening Anglo-French links on matters ranging from climate change, terrorism and nuclear power, Mr. Sarkozy snapped at a French journalist who had asked if lie felt overshadowed by his wife.

"I am proud that people have seen tier for what she is," replied the President. I think she has been an honour to our country not simply because of the way she looks, but beyond that everyone understands that this is a woman who has beliefs, sensitivity, who is a humane person. These sensitivities, these beliefs, this humanity are what contribute to Carla's elegance."

While the two political leaders discussed politics, their wives were co-hosting a charity lunch at Lancaster House to raise awareness about the number of women who die in childbirth in the developing world. Giving her first public speech, Carla revealed how tier whirlwind romance and marriage have changed her life.

"It's all been a bit of a surprise," she revealed to the 150 guests, who included Amanda Wakeley, Claudia winkleman and Annie Lennox. "There I was, last year, on October 13, strumming my guitar, and then I met Nicolas. And now I've met the Queen!"

Her day with the royal family was "like a dream", she added. The dream continued when she later met up with her husband and enjoyed a smooch as they cruised down the Thames to Greenwich. Having struggled with Britain's smoking ban in public places, the President then disappeared with his mother-in-law for a quick cigarette.

The final big event on the French schedule before flying back to Paris was a dinner at the Guildhall in London, for which Carla threw off the demure outfits she had worn earlier to dazzle everyone in a strapless burgundy evening gown.