Nicolas Sarkozi and his wife Carla Bruni could face public embarrassment after some saucy snaps of France's First Lady were stolen in a burglary.

Photographs of the former model and former lover philosopher Raphael Enthoven were stolen from his brother Julien's flat in Paris, while Carla and Nicolas were away on official business in Spain.

Local authorities believe that the burglars plan to expose Carla and her lover online in a bid to humiliate the French President.

Carla on her official visit to Spain (Splash News)

A source tells the Daily Mail: "The thieves appeared to know exactly what they were looking for, taking highly intimate prints, a camera full of further images, videos, and numerous computer files.

"They broke into Mr Enthoven's flat in Rue Dauphine, in the sixth arrondissement, on Sunday night, smashing a window in the sitting room which looks out on to the courtyard.

"Nobody was at home at the time, and nothing else was taken."

And the soap-style plot thickens...

Carla - who has an eight-year-old son with Raphael - originally lived with Raphael's father Jean-Paul in the 1990s, before leaving him for his married elder son.

Doesn't sound very First-Lady like.