Carla Bruni's pregnancy confirmed

Berlin - The wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, is expecting a child, the president's father told Tuesday's edition of the German Bild newspaper.

"I'm glad to be having a grandchild," Pal Sarkozy, aged 82, told Europe's most widely-read newspaper.

Neither the president nor his wife "want to know the sex the child, but I'm sure it's a girl who'll be as beautiful as Carla", he added.

A cryptic television interview by France's 43-year-old first lady on Monday had fuelled speculation she was pregnant.

'I congratualte you'

Journalists had widely expected Bruni to announce she was pregnant when she scheduled a live interview on the top lunchtime news show on France's TF1 channel, but she tantalisingly avoided confirming it openly.

Instead of asking the million-dollar question, presenter Jean-Pierre Pernaut quizzed Bruni for several minutes on her charity work against child illiteracy, before dispatching the pregnancy issue in a matter of seconds.

"I know you don't like people talking about your private life, but I just want to congratulate you," Pernaut said.

The supermodel-turned-singer Bruni smiled shyly and replied: "I congratulate you too," without saying what for. The interview then ended.