Now Lauren is held up as the glamorous and interesting member of the Bush clan.It is a role that desperately needs to be filled. For a while George P, as he's called, the 24-year-old nephew of the President and son of Jeb Bush, the Florida governor, brought a dash of panache and whizz to the family camp.During the election campaign, George P who is fluent in Spanish and was described by one commentator as "a major hottie, a cross between Ricky Martin and John Kennedy Jr in the looks department" was much in view, particularly as the Republicans chased the Hispanic vote. But now that the election is won, George P has slunk out of sight.The president's twin 19-year-old daughters, Jenna and Barbara, also briefly did their bit to try to create a bit of interest, dancing with Dubya at the inaugural ball until clumsy dad managed to almost dislodge one of their frocks.Hats off to Jenna, too, for getting charged and fined for "being a minor in possession of alcohol" after she was caught by undercover cops drinking a beer with some fellow students in Austin, Texas (don't they have anything better to do? The police, that is). And though Jenna was told that she must attend alcohol awareness classes, pay $51.25 in court costs and serve eight hours of community service, she and her sister have caught the public imagination less, even, than Chelsea Clinton.There had also been great hopes for another of Jeb Bush's sons, Jeb Jr, after this fine, upstanding young man was caught by security officers having sex with a semi-naked 17-year-old girl in a Jeep Cherokee parked at a Tallahassee shopping mall, just two days before the presidential election. Police were called but the lad was not charged, and the incident went unreported.And so to young Lauren, the catwalk wonder. Does she have what it takes to transform the grey, dull image associated with George W and his dad? Vogue magazine recently described her as "the most glamorous member of America's most powerful family". Then again, it's not much of a challenge.If you believe the stuff conjured up by Lauren's publicists, she also enjoys photography, jazz and ballet classes, plays tennis and soccer and works out regularly kick-boxing, spinning and yoga.The media went crazy earlier this year after it was revealed she had apparently been exchanging e-mails with Prince William.
The couple have never met, but while she and her family were holidaying on a yacht owned by Greek shipping tycoon John Latsis, Lauren learned that the handsome prince was next in line for a trip on the yacht.So guess what the little minx did? Yes, she left a photograph of herself on the yacht and young Wills found it. And then? Well, William sent her an e-mail, didn't he, the old smoothie. Fairytale stuff.At a ball at the elegant Crillon hotel in Paris, she was paired off with French aristocrat Luis de Bourbon ("He was really nice," Lauren later revealed. "And very handsome.")Lauren was allegedly such a hit in Europe that her publicists said: "Not since Jacqueline Kennedy has an American girl wowed the French as Lauren did, when she was presented on the arm of a prince at the Bal de D?tantes."The reality is probably rather different. General wisdom has it is that Lauren is a nice enough kid, quite well-grounded and not too spoiled. But her mother travels with her to every photo shoot and sits in on every interview.In a recent interview with Tatler magazine, Lauren was talking about the Paris ball when mum butted in, gushing: "Lauren had the most spectacular gown it was a hand-stitched $100,000 dress and it took 600 hours to make.
They made Lauren belle of the ball..."Lauren tried to explain how much she enjoyed herself, but mum hadn't finished: "And they all went dancing afterwards. Dior gave her a second gown and she led the ball for that too, she and the prince..."Left to her own devices, Lauren sounds like any normal teenager of her age "I love the fashion world," she said "And it's fun to be part of it But it is separate from my high-school life. While I'd like to continue doing it, I want to go to college."So there you have it balls, English princes, glamorous frocks, holidays, modelling assignments, secret e-mails, more holidays, more frocks, French princes, etc, etc.Or, of course, you have an essentially normal young woman, born into a privileged world, cajoled by an ambitious, bossy mother, and who is really not that out-of-the ordinary after all, but happens through no fault of her own to be the related to the US President.But then, where would be the glamour in that?. Ariel Sharon, Israel's Prime Minister, announced last night that he was willing to call an immediate ceasefire if the Palestinians agreed to do the same. Ariel Sharon, Israel's Prime Minister, announced last night that he was willing to call an immediate ceasefire if the Palestinians agreed to do the same. In a pledge met with scepticism by the Palestinians he also promised not to grab more land for Jewish settlements in the occupied territories. But he reiterated Israel's rejection of the Mitchell report's call for a complete freeze on illegal settlements that would include "natural growth".Mr Sharon said: "I call tonight for a total truce in the area, and I say again here that if the Palestinians accept this proposal to stop the fire, we will immediately stop the fire."Following Mr Sharon's statement, the Israeli Defence Minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, ordered the Israeli army to stop all firing except "when life is in danger".
