As the wife of the president, Cécile Carnot devoted a lot of her time to representation in public and entertaining at the Presidential Palace.

She hosted three balls annually and arranged garden parties at which she introduced tennis.

She regarded representation as an important part of the political career for her spouse.

In 1889 she introduced the annual Christmas dinner for poor children, and it became a tradition and has been held ever since.

[2] She played a political role when she negotiated with Georges Ernest Boulanger, preventing a coup.