Who’s the REAL FIRST LADY?

As Trump’s decison to take his wife AND his daughter on his first big trip fuels rumours of rivalry . . .

THEIRS is the White House rivalry that dares not speak its name, but which, this week, was rather too glaring to ignore.

Donald Trump went on his first international trip as President and took with him his wife Melania, 47, and his daughter Ivanka, 35.

Normally, there is no confusion on the identity of America’s First Lady — it’s the President’s wife. Nowadays, however, it’s not so clear.

For Ivanka Trump — the President’s daughter by his first marriage, to Czech model Ivana — has taken an increasingly prominent White House role alongside her husband, Jared Kushner, now reportedly Mr Trump’s closest adviser.

With the fragrant, ever-smiling Ivanka turning up at State dinners, world leader receptions and top-level government meetings, her stepmother Melania has remained in New York with her young son Barron. Melania has been far more out of the spotlight than Ivanka of late.

So, asks TOM LEONARD, who’s the real First Lady?

MELANIA’S STRICTLY HANDS-OFF APPROACH

THE u.S. President has spent the week crossing the Middle East and Europe. But much has been made of a clip purportedly showing Melania swatting her husband’s hand away after he went to hold hands with her while on a red carpet in Israel on Monday. She was reported to have done it again, two days later, in Italy.

Washington insiders say Melania is a reticent woman who reportedly never wanted her husband to run for president and now cannot hide her unhappiness. AntiTrumpists have launched a ‘FreeMelania’ campaign and urged her to ‘blink twice if you need help’. But the mockery is mixed with sympathy. Who, after all, could adapt easily to having the eyes of the world on them?

DADDY’S SECRET WEAPON ... HIS DARLING DAUGHTER

NO TRUMP superlative is too great for Daddy’s little darling. She’s the apple of his eye, she can walk into the Oval Office without an appointment, and the woman whom he once queasily said he would probably be dating if she wasn’t his daughter. She’s ‘got the best body’, he boasted to a radio show when she was all of 21.

Now she’s his White House ‘assistant’, an undefined, unpaid role, and has her own office in the West Wing and a front row seat in government.

So far, Ivanka has proved a political asset, turning on the charm with world leaders.

Just days after Mr Trump had an uncomfortable meeting with Angela Merkel, apparently failing to shake her hand, the German leader was welcoming his daughter to a conference on working women in Berlin. She managed it again this week with the Pope — one minute he was standing glowering next to Donald Trump and the next he had a huge smile on his face as he shook Ivanka’s hand.

The President can rely on his daughter to get opponents eating out of his hand.

THE BATTLE OF BRAND TRUMP

YOU can’t call yourself a Trump and not make money off the family name. Melania and Ivanka have both had their own commercial product ranges.

Having launched a range of accessories for young urban women — hardly natural Trump supporters — Ivanka has seen retailers drop her products.

Conversely, when liberals called for a boycott of her products earlier this year, analysts reported her sales shot up by 347 per cent. Even so, her company — which being private, doesn’t release financial details — is reported to have gone downmarket as it accepts the classic Ivanka customer isn’t as rich as it assumed.

The company is ditching its high-end jewellery range, where a diamond-studded wrist cuff costs £36,500. Experts say the worry for ‘Brand Ivanka’ will be when her clothes and baubles become so cheap she won’t be able to wear them.

As for ‘Brand Melania’, preelection, she had several stabs at monetising her name but hardly set the retail world alight. They included Melania Timepieces & Jewellery and a ‘caviarbased’ anti-ageing cream.

First Lady of Business? Ivanka. Just like Daddy, she likes to make a buck.

STYLE QUEENS HOLDING COURT

LONG legs, long hair, big chests and a penchant for figurehugging clothing — First Lady and First Daughter don’t go far from the stereotype of the sort of woman the u.S. President appreciates. Mr Trump is a man who has always relished the company of glamorous women and his wife and daughter certainly don’t let him down.

It was hard to keep up with their costume changes this week, as a stream of expensive outfits passed in a blur. Neither women misses a chance to show off their figure, but Melania’s wardrobe is nowadays more flashy and figure-hugging — sexy power-outfits with 80sstyle big shoulders, big hair and waists pulled in with big belts. Her wardrobe is full of sheath dresses, belted raincoats and pencil skirt suits by designers such as Givenchy. Every occasion calls for a style statement, as when the Trump ladies insisted on wearing longsleeved black dresses and veils

to meet the Pope this week. The veils were unnecessary, as Pope Francis is trying to discourage such old-fashioned dress codes.

Ivanka also had critics sneering when she wore a £3,100 off-the-shoulder dress by French designer Rouland Mourret to the State of the Union Address in Congress, saying it would have been more appropriate at a cocktail party.

And in Trump tradition, she doesn’t miss an opportunity to plug her own fashion ranges — wearing a pair of Ivanka Trump heels in the knowledge they will be identified as hers and boost sales.

In some cases, as with a pink dress she wore during the election, she’ll Tweet a link to a retailer sell-ing it. But the style crown goes to Melania, who this week left even the chic French First Lady Brigitte Macron in the shade when the two met in Brussels. First Lady of Fashion? Melania. Melania makes sure every head turns.

HOME SWEET LUXURY HOME

Who — but the Trumps and Russia’s most tasteless oligarch — would live in the First Family’s 30,000sqft triplex in Manhattan’s Trump Tower? The views from the 58th floor aren’t bad, but nobody who has seen the pictures can forget the garish interior — 53 rooms of marble and gold designed to evoke the grandiose Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles.

With its waterfalls, hall of mirrors and vast chandeliers, it’s the opposite of cosy. And yet that’s where Melania calls home, rattling around the place with Barron, while Donald is in Washington.

Ivanka and her husband, who are worth at least $740 million, moved into a £4.2 million, five-bedroom house in Washington earlier this year, which they are renting for £12,000 a month.

Living more like normal — if very rich — neighbours has its drawbacks. The locals, Democrats, have been complaining about the extra security and portable lavatory for Secret Service staff stationed outside the house. First Lady of the White house? Ivanka. With complete access to the oval office, she’s nearer the seat of power.

ONLY DONALD IN COMMON

The two main women in Mr Trump’s life couldn’t have less in common. Melania was born in Slovenia in what was then part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

The daughter of a car dealer, she grew up in a flat in a modest Communist-era apartment block. her mother made patterns for a children’s clothing manufacturer.

Melania started modelling aged six and moved to New York at 26 to build her career. She met her future husband at a party in 1998.

Ivanka grew up in billionaire affluence. She was educated at a string of private schools. She attended an exclusive business school and did some modelling before joining the family empire.

First Lady of Reinvention? Melania. her ascent to prominence has been extraordinary.

A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK

FOR all her protestations that she wanted to just be a daughter to the President, nobody was surprised when Ivanka took a White house post which entails being one of his chief confidantes.

Insiders say she has more liberal views on issues such as abortion and gay rights, and doesn’t hesitate to contradict her father.

Critics are not convinced, asking how can she really be the feminist progressive she claims to be when her father — who boasted groping women was one of the perks of power — is a misogynist dinosaur.

While Ivanka was a regular stand-in for her father on the campaign trail, Melania was a reluctant campaigner during the election.

When Melania did finally make a major speech, at the Republican National Convention, it emerged that bits of it had been cribbed from a speech by Michelle obama.

First Lady of Politics? Ivanka. A chip off the old block in sharing her father’s drive and ambition.