But Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s WAG-like image hides a ruthless politician.
And this steely, unflinching leader has set her heart on reclaiming the Falklands setting her on a collision course with Britain.
Ironically, such determination has brought comparisons to Margaret Thatcher, who sent our forces to war to win back the islands after an Argentinian invasion in 1982.
But Cristina’s own role model is quite different.
Her inspiration is Argentina’s national heroine, the glamorous champion of the working classes and labour rights activist Eva Peron known as Evita.
And Cristina is determined that her own part in her country’s history will rival that of the tragic First Lady, whose story was told in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Seventies musical.
Nestor Kirchner … late husband So she has taken up the fight for the Falklands and the battle against Britain.
David Cameron is so concerned with her fighting talk that he has dusted off war plans to defend the islands, as reported in yesterday’s Sun. He seems right to be worried.
The mum-of-two, 58, wants to cement her legacy before she has to give up office at the end of her second four-year term as President, which she won in October. Last month, in a provocative move, she persuaded countries including Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay to ban Falklands vessels from their ports.
The snub was designed to show Latin American solidarity with Argentina’s claim of sovereignty of the islands it calls Las Malvinas.
Cristina has accused Britain of colonialism of hanging on to them and their resources, particularly oil which she wants to grab for Argentina.
And in a brazen bid to stir up anti-British feeling she has hinted that the greedy UK may INVADE other countries.
She declared: «The Malvinas is not an Argentine issue it is a global issue because they (the UK) are taking our energy and fishing resources out of the Malvinas.
Don’t cry for me … Cristina’s heroine Eva Peron in 1951, left, and, right, Madonna as Eva Peron in film version of musical Evita
«When they require more resources and those of you who have resources, think about this they will go and seek out those resources wherever and however they see fit.»
And she relentlessly slams Britain for ignoring a United Nations resolution calling on the UK to resume talks with Argentina on the Falklands sovereignty.
She fumed: «We are not asking them to come here and recognise that the Malvinas are Argentine but what we are saying is for them to comply with the United Nations, sit down and dialogue, dialogue, dialogue.»
Making friends … Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner with Barack Obama at Nuclear Security Summit in 2010
Ominously she once told America’s Time magazine: «We’re finding our way now. We’re reasserting Argentina on the world stage.»
Cristina was born in 1953 the year after Evita’s death from cancer at the age of 33 in middle-class La Plata to parents of German and Spanish descent.
Map … Argentina, South America
She studied law and joined the Peronist Youth, named in honour of three-times Argentine President Juan Peron, Eva’s husband.
At university she met and married another law student, Nestor Kirchner. He was three years her senior, also of part-German descent and also keen on Leftist politics.
When the country’s military rulers fell from power after losing the Falklands War, the couple took on politics with a vengeance.
Eventually, in 2003, Nestor was elected President and Cristina became a high-profile First Lady.
She was her husband’s ambassador-at-large and loved making highly charged speeches, like Evita.
But it was the couple’s financial policies, which lifted hundreds of thousands of Argentines out of poverty, that cemented Cristina’s reputation as the new Eva Peron.
Soon she was being greeted everywhere by adoring crowds chanting: «Cristina! Cristina!» just as in the Forties and Fifties hordes had cheered: «Evita! Evita!»
Influential … Cristina meets with Pope Benedict XVI in November, 2009
In the 2007 election she was so popular that hubby Nestor declined to try for a second term as President leaving her to run instead.
She won in a landslide. A year later she happily posed with Madonna who had played Evita in the 1996 film of the musical.
She later admitted identifying with «the Evita of the hair in a bun and the clenched fist before a microphone». And she said that, like her heroine, she brought «a lot of passion to life and politics».
Cristina added: «Women of my generation owe her a debt. When we came to age during the dark dictatorship of the 1970s, we had her example of passion and combativeness to get us through.»
Rights on … Cristina meets with Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin to discuss same sex marriage
And there is also the example of Eva’s love of fashion although the President’s take on style has led to some calling her «the Botox Evita».
Others have lambasted her for turning up late for meetings with foreign officials and celebrities because her make-up takes so long.
Corruption scandals soon saw her approval ratings fall. But she fought back with a hit child benefits scheme and, increasingly, fighting words over the Falklands. Her popularity also soared on a wave of sympathy when, in October 2010, her husband died of a heart attack.
Nice to meet U2 … Bono takes time out from his Latin American tour to talk with Cristina in 2011
She has worn nothing but black ever since building up a formidable dark wardrobe.
One pundit remarked: «Cristina has deployed her glamour and sexuality as potent weapons on her way to a goal that not even the legendary Eva Peron was able to achieve.»
Talking of herself, Cristina has sounded more menancing.
She has said: «We Peronists, just like all Argentines, are capable of spawning the most sublime individuals as well as the most despicable actions. That’s how contradictory we are.»
Britain, beware.
t.spanton@the-sun.co.uk
And this steely, unflinching leader has set her heart on reclaiming the Falklands setting her on a collision course with Britain.
Ironically, such determination has brought comparisons to Margaret Thatcher, who sent our forces to war to win back the islands after an Argentinian invasion in 1982.
But Cristina’s own role model is quite different.
Her inspiration is Argentina’s national heroine, the glamorous champion of the working classes and labour rights activist Eva Peron known as Evita.
And Cristina is determined that her own part in her country’s history will rival that of the tragic First Lady, whose story was told in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Seventies musical.
Nestor Kirchner … late husband So she has taken up the fight for the Falklands and the battle against Britain.
David Cameron is so concerned with her fighting talk that he has dusted off war plans to defend the islands, as reported in yesterday’s Sun. He seems right to be worried.
The mum-of-two, 58, wants to cement her legacy before she has to give up office at the end of her second four-year term as President, which she won in October. Last month, in a provocative move, she persuaded countries including Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay to ban Falklands vessels from their ports.
The snub was designed to show Latin American solidarity with Argentina’s claim of sovereignty of the islands it calls Las Malvinas.
Cristina has accused Britain of colonialism of hanging on to them and their resources, particularly oil which she wants to grab for Argentina.
And in a brazen bid to stir up anti-British feeling she has hinted that the greedy UK may INVADE other countries.
She declared: «The Malvinas is not an Argentine issue it is a global issue because they (the UK) are taking our energy and fishing resources out of the Malvinas.
Don’t cry for me … Cristina’s heroine Eva Peron in 1951, left, and, right, Madonna as Eva Peron in film version of musical Evita
«When they require more resources and those of you who have resources, think about this they will go and seek out those resources wherever and however they see fit.»
And she relentlessly slams Britain for ignoring a United Nations resolution calling on the UK to resume talks with Argentina on the Falklands sovereignty.
She fumed: «We are not asking them to come here and recognise that the Malvinas are Argentine but what we are saying is for them to comply with the United Nations, sit down and dialogue, dialogue, dialogue.»
Making friends … Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner with Barack Obama at Nuclear Security Summit in 2010
Ominously she once told America’s Time magazine: «We’re finding our way now. We’re reasserting Argentina on the world stage.»
Cristina was born in 1953 the year after Evita’s death from cancer at the age of 33 in middle-class La Plata to parents of German and Spanish descent.
Map … Argentina, South America
She studied law and joined the Peronist Youth, named in honour of three-times Argentine President Juan Peron, Eva’s husband.
At university she met and married another law student, Nestor Kirchner. He was three years her senior, also of part-German descent and also keen on Leftist politics.
When the country’s military rulers fell from power after losing the Falklands War, the couple took on politics with a vengeance.
Eventually, in 2003, Nestor was elected President and Cristina became a high-profile First Lady.
She was her husband’s ambassador-at-large and loved making highly charged speeches, like Evita.
But it was the couple’s financial policies, which lifted hundreds of thousands of Argentines out of poverty, that cemented Cristina’s reputation as the new Eva Peron.
Soon she was being greeted everywhere by adoring crowds chanting: «Cristina! Cristina!» just as in the Forties and Fifties hordes had cheered: «Evita! Evita!»
Influential … Cristina meets with Pope Benedict XVI in November, 2009
In the 2007 election she was so popular that hubby Nestor declined to try for a second term as President leaving her to run instead.
She won in a landslide. A year later she happily posed with Madonna who had played Evita in the 1996 film of the musical.
She later admitted identifying with «the Evita of the hair in a bun and the clenched fist before a microphone». And she said that, like her heroine, she brought «a lot of passion to life and politics».
Cristina added: «Women of my generation owe her a debt. When we came to age during the dark dictatorship of the 1970s, we had her example of passion and combativeness to get us through.»
Rights on … Cristina meets with Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin to discuss same sex marriage
And there is also the example of Eva’s love of fashion although the President’s take on style has led to some calling her «the Botox Evita».
Others have lambasted her for turning up late for meetings with foreign officials and celebrities because her make-up takes so long.
Corruption scandals soon saw her approval ratings fall. But she fought back with a hit child benefits scheme and, increasingly, fighting words over the Falklands. Her popularity also soared on a wave of sympathy when, in October 2010, her husband died of a heart attack.
Nice to meet U2 … Bono takes time out from his Latin American tour to talk with Cristina in 2011
She has worn nothing but black ever since building up a formidable dark wardrobe.
One pundit remarked: «Cristina has deployed her glamour and sexuality as potent weapons on her way to a goal that not even the legendary Eva Peron was able to achieve.»
Talking of herself, Cristina has sounded more menancing.
She has said: «We Peronists, just like all Argentines, are capable of spawning the most sublime individuals as well as the most despicable actions. That’s how contradictory we are.»
Britain, beware.
t.spanton@the-sun.co.uk
