How did Carla persuade her husband not to extradite this woman? Did she kneel in front of him in a diaphanous nightdress, throatily singing her hit chanson "Quelqu'un M'a Dit?" Or did she simply use what she calls her "Kitty Eyes"? Cherie would certainly not have got away with it. It is no secret that she disagreed with her husband on a number of issues and on numerous occasions bit her tongue. This must have been a tough call for a mouthy, Liverpudlian human-rights lawyer.

Not naturally stylish, Cherie refuses to starve herself. A yearly staple of the August press was an unforgiving holiday photo of Cherie, usually in a swimsuit, hanging up Tony's Vilebrequins. This is the stuff of female nightmares. When the Sarkozys visited Windsor earlier this year, Sarah Brown posed beside the exquisite Carla in an adequate though slightly frumpy jacket and skirt. Most female commentators were fair to Mrs Brown. One can't help but doubt whether Mrs Blair would have been treated with such sisterly sympathy.

When their courting became public, Sarah Brown asked Gordon's then press spokesman, Charlie Whelan, for advice on how she should conduct herself. Whelan suggested, "Like the Queen Mother: be seen and say very little." Mrs Brown has followed that advice. But Mrs Obama? She is stepping into a brighter spotlight than any other leader's wife in history has had to endure and she cannot be dull. But she will have to tread carefully; already there is talk of her ambitious streak. The moral of Cherie's story: walk softly but carry a big stick - even if it is only a lipstick.