Tipped as a serious contender for the French presidency in 2007, Ségolène Royal was allegedly furious when the magazine Closer, noted for its snatched pictures of celebrities, published pictures of her in a bikini. Royal was on holiday near La Rochelle with her four children and her partner, Socialist leader François Hollande, whom she has showed no signs of marrying and whom she hints will not be allowed to harbour his own thoughts of France’s highest office.

Madame Royal can scarcely have been annoyed that the pictures were unflattering: on the contrary, they showed the 53-year-old to have, in the words of the magazine, an ‘impeccable’ figure.  Her complaint split France down the middle – some agreeing that constant intrusion into the lives of off duty celebrities was outrageous and had to stop, others saying that Ségolène had brought the situation upon herself, by blatantly courting the popular press.

Certainly, she did not seem unhappy with a survey in FMH, a men’s magazine that annually ranks the drop dead gorgeous among the world’s female glitterati. The rankings in order were leading model Adriana Karembeu, wife of footballer Christian Karembeu, followed by Naomi Watts, US film actress Tara Reid, Angelina Jolie and Italo-American television actress Alyssa Milano. Ségolène Royal was voted the sixth sexiest woman on the planet, beating Naomi Campbell and Sophie Marceau. Apparently this so outraged a fan of Sophie Marceau, that he threw a custard pie at Madame Royal as she got off the train at La Rochelle.