Bruni 'feared' Queen Elizabeth - till monarch showed her to the bathroom!

London, May 8 : A month after her Britain visit, French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has revealed her 'terrible fear' she felt before meeting the Queen - until the monarch showed her to her bathroom.

In her most revealing interview to date, the former supermodel offered tantalising details about her state visit to Britain with her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"Buckingham [Palace], for me was terrible fear and an incredible adventure. It was a rite of passage. It was like arriving on another planet!" the Telegraph quoted her, as telling Paris Match.

"Never in my life did I think I would meet the Queen of England," she added, still amazed that the Queen personally showed her to her room at Windsor Castle, declaring: "Here's your bathroom."

Bruni-Sarkozy admitted to having painstakingly researched how to behave, and how to meet the Queen.

"I asked for advice from the protocol section of the Elysee, but also from the British Ambassador's wife. I tried to imagine how to do it [the curtsy]," she said.

Commenting on a photo taken with her husband and the entire Royal family, Sarkozy-Bruni said she had been struck by the fact that the Royals were "a real family".

"One really feels it when one is with them. And for me it was an absolute honour," she said.

ANI