FACTBOX-France's first lady proves unpredictable

(Reuters) - France's unconventional first lady Cecilia Sarkozy caused a stir at the weekend after skipping a lunch with U.S. President George W. Bush and his family.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said she was suffering from a sore throat, but it wasn't the first time Cecilia had failed to attend an important event with her husband.

Here are some facts about Cecilia Sarkozy.

* Cecilia was born near Paris in 1957. Her father came from Romania and had Jewish origins while her mother was Spanish. Cecilia has boasted that she did not have "a single drop of French blood".

* She studied law but never finished the course and briefly modelled for French designer Schiaparelli.

* Her first husband was a TV presenter more than 20 years her senior. They were married in 1984 by Nicolas Sarkozy, the then mayor of a town outside Paris. Sarkozy said he fell in love with Cecilia at first sight and 12 years later they married. She has two daughters by her first marriage and a son with Sarkozy.

* The couple briefly separated in 2005, and Cecilia lived for a short while in New York with an advertising executive before returning to France and Sarkozy in early 2006.

* She has held senior positions inside Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement party, was a "technical adviser" when he was economy minister in 2004 and worked alongside him during two spells as interior minister in the last government.

* She shunned much of his presidential election campaign and did not vote in the second round ballot, fuelling speculation of a fresh separation. She appeared at his inauguration ceremony and later made two high profile visits to Libya, apparently helping broker the release of long-imprisoned Bulgarian medics.