Sarah Brown 'bemused' by sketch

Sarah Brown posted her comments about the drawing on Twitter

The prime minister's wife, Sarah Brown, has said that a sketch of her published by French first lady Carla Bruni left her feeling "bemused".

The sketch appears on Ms Bruni's newly-launched website.

Mrs Brown wrote on social networking site Twitter: "Love Carla Bruni-Sarkozy's new website though bit bemused by illustration of me."

The website crashed on its first day after being overwhelmed by the number of people trying to access it.

The red-line drawing of the prime minister's wife, by illustrator Alice Dechelette, is in a gallery on the site which includes politicians, their wives and musicians.

Other subjects featured in the gallery include Ms Bruni's husband President Nicolas Sarkozy, Nelson Mandela and U2 singer Bono.

Palace life

Following her initial tweet, Mrs Brown told fellow Twitter user bigbelbess: "Bemused in a good way - I think it is really cool".

The website promises a glimpse into Ms Bruni's life with President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace and aims to publicise her charity work.

Mrs Brown's followers on Twitter now appear to be outstripping those of popular celebrity "tweeter" Stephen Fry.

The prime minister's wife now has more than 774,000 followers on the website Twitter after joining Twitter in March, compared with about 768,000 for Fry.

And her popularity on Twitter far exceeds that of the official Labour Party feed, which has about 6,000 followers.

She writes under the name SarahBrown10 and tends to steer clear of political statements.

Instead she gives followers a glimpse into the practicalities of her day-to-day life.