Robbie and Geri's friendly break

Taking French leave: Geri Halliwell

Pop stars Robbie Williams and Geri Halliwell have gone to France to take a holiday - but reports of a romance between the pair have been denied.

A spokesman for the 27-year-old former Spice Girl confirmed she and the one-time Take That singer were enjoying a summer break together, but they had been joined by a large group of mutual friends.

High-profile love life: Robbie Williams

He said: "They are on holiday together but they are just mates and there is definitely no romance.

"Geri will be staying over there for a few weeks, but I don't know about Robbie's plans."

Photographs of Halliwell leaving 26-year-old Williams' London home appeared in Wednesday's Sun newspaper, which quoted "one of Robbie's pals" as saying the couple have "fallen for each other in a big way".

But his spokeswoman insisted that was not the case.

'Just good friends'

"There is absolutely nothing going on between them. They are just good friends," she said.

She added that the love story was "purely assumption by The Sun".

The pair are said to have become friendly after they both sang at a 50th birthday party for the Prince of Wales in November.

Last year Halliwell was briefly linked to broadcaster Chris Evans, but cynics pointed out that she had a single out at the same time - which promptly went straight to number one.

Famous flame: Halliwell's fling with Chris Evans made the headlines

Both Evans and Halliwell were represented by the same public relations agency.

This week Williams has a single out, Rock DJ, on EMI - the same label as Halliwell.

But he is unlikely to need any gimmicks to get him to number one.

Rock DJ sold 56,000 copies on Monday alone, making it likely to sell over 200,000 copies by Saturday.

His love life has been in the spotlight for some time, with former partners including All Saints singer Nicole Appleton and television presenter Tania Strecker.