All eyes were on the Princess of Wales as she moved gracefully along the red carpet into the state banquet at Windsor Castle, appearing regal in a gold lace gown.

But the question on many observers’ lips was: ‘Who on Earth is that with her?’

Kate had a handsome young man in full evening dress by her side. The duo were then seated next to one another at a table adorned with golden candelabras.

Royal staff dedicate weeks, even months, to preparing seating plans for historic events like these. Not even a Dutch bonnet-style napkin is ever misplaced. Thus, placing Michael Boulos, 28, husband of Tiffany Trump, next to the future Queen of England was very intentional, yet also, to say the least, unexpected.

Tiffany, 31, was the only one of President Trump’s five children at the momentous royal banquet. She sat a little further down the table from her husband, next to Apple CEO Tim Cook, with whom she appeared to get along famously.

Just four months ago she gave birth to son Alexander – the Boulos’ first child – and she dazzled fashion experts with a glitzy royal blue off-the-shoulder gown which shimmered with silver sequins. Like First Lady Melania she left her shoulders bare, perhaps signifying some coordinated planning, and her blonde tresses cascaded over her shoulder.

Before the president’s trip to the U.K., the White House had told the Daily Mail that no Trump children were expected to go with him. So, it came as a bit of a shock when one did stride out of the White House to join the president boarding his Marine One helicopter on the lawn, and then Air Force One for the flight across the Atlantic.

That it was not Ivanka was to be expected.

The role in the vanguard of a Trump family charm offensive used to be the preserve of the president’s eldest daughter, and the woman he once suggested could follow in his footsteps, becoming the first female president of the United States.

However, that paternal dream appears consigned to the past.

As a White House advisor in the first Trump administration Ivanka, 43, decided it was not for her. She did not attend her father’s 2024 campaign launch and says she wants no further part of politics.

But the odds of who would serve as her replacement favored Don Jr. or Eric. However, they are focused on running the family business. And Barron, 19, is busy with his college studies.

Instead, it was Tiffany, looking effortlessly chic in a Nissa crepe V-neck gown with pearl detailing. The decision to have her accompany the president on such a high-profile visit left White House watchers wondering if it heralds a future wider role for Tiffany.

Indeed, the similarities between Tiffany and Ivanka are striking.

Tiffany graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology. She then secured her postgraduate law degree from Georgetown University in Washington in 2020.

Ivanka attended Georgetown for two years before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with a degree in economics in 2004.

And, of course, both have married wealthy businessmen who have assimilated well into the Trump family.

The couple are believed to have first met at Lindsay Lohan’s beach club on the Greek island of Mykonos in 2018. The movie star knew both of them but was not physically present to introduce them.

Boulos later got down on one knee in the White House rose garden and proposed with a $1.2 million ring.

The engagement was a rare ray of light for President Trump at the time, coming the day before he left office in January 2021.

As her father’s belongings were being packed up to be shipped to Mar-a-Lago, Tiffany announced: ‘It has been an honor to celebrate many milestones, historic occasions and create memories with my family here at the White House, none more special than my engagement to my amazing fiancé Michael! Feeling blessed and excited for the next chapter!’

During his next few years in the political wilderness, Trump never seemed happier than at his youngest daughter’s wedding at Mar-a-Lago in 2022, dancing with Melania alongside the happy couple.

Tiffany’s ascension within her father’s orbit means her life has come full circle, after she grew up separated from her half-siblings.

Back in the 1990s her mother, Marla Maples, was embroiled in one of the biggest sex scandals of the 1990s, when her affair with Trump, then a real estate mogul, triggered his so-called ‘divorce of the century’ from first wife Ivana.

It reportedly ended in a showdown in 1992 when Maples, then a model, actress and Trump’s mistress, confronted his wife in Aspen.

‘Are you in love with your husband? Because I am,’ Maples reportedly told the then-Mrs Trump.

Ivana eventually received $14 million divorce settlement along with a Greenwich estate, and $650,000 in annual child support for Ivanka, Donald Trump Jr, and Eric.

Tiffany’s decision to marry Michael Boulos, 28, was also welcomed by Marla Maples, who has declared: ‘I adore Michael.’

Tiffany was born in 1993 in Florida and named after Tiffany & Co, the luxury jeweler. Trump’s subsequent second marriage to Maples became tabloid fodder, with the twists and turns frequently on front pages, and ended after six years.

Maples went on to raise Tiffany as a single mother in California.

‘I’ve had a real blessing of being able to raise Tiffany as a single parent,’ she once said. ‘Her daddy of course took care of school, her education and some of our needs, but as far as the day-to-day parenting, I’ve been the one here.

‘We’ve been able to embrace a lot of laughter, a lot of joy. There’s [sic] no secrets I ever kept from Tiffany. She’s the person I go to when I need the true, honest advice.’

Now Maples is playing the role of gushing parent.

While Tiffany was on the other side of the world at the state banquet Maples took care of four-month-old grandson Alexander and posted a photograph of her ‘radiant’ daughter and Michael with the Prince and Princess of Wales.

‘I couldn’t be prouder of the grace and kindness that shine through her (Tiffany’s) smile,’ Maples wrote on Instagram. ‘I happily stayed home with our sweet grandson, soaking up every precious moment.’

It was notable that Maples referred to ‘our’ grandson, her relationship with Donald being a friendly one these days.

Indeed, in recent years Tiffany has grown ever closer to the Trump side of her family – including Ivanka, who was maid of honor at her wedding.

She has shown a quiet but consistent loyalty to her father that has not gone unnoticed at the White House, and among MAGA supporters. She spoke at both the 2016 and 2020 Republican National Conventions and at campaign events.

On his first state visit to the U.K. in 2019 Tiffany was also there, although overshadowed by her elder siblings.

In 2023, when Trump gave a fiery speech after being charged in the Stormy Daniels hush money case, Tiffany was there. 

During closing arguments in the trial in New York, Tiffany was there again.

The same goes for Trump’s second inauguration, and his joint speech to Congress in March, and the military parade for his birthday in June.

Tiffany’s increasing presence at her father’s side has also drawn her new husband, and his family, into the inner sanctum of the court of Trump. 

Michael was born in Houston, Texas but grew up mostly in Nigeria and was educated at the American International School in Lagos.

He went on to study at the private Regent’s University, London, living in a $1.2 million apartment where neighbors included Tom Ford, Damien Hirst and Sasha Baron Cohen.

The Boulos family’s roots are in northern Lebanon, although they now own a multibillion-dollar conglomerate, which includes trucking and machinery, and companies active in many West African countries.

After university, Michael then worked for his wealthy father Massad Boulos’s company SCOA Nigeria PLC.

During the 2024 campaign Massad arranged Trump campaign efforts to engage the Muslim-American community in Michigan, organizing dozens of meetings with those angered by Democratic President Joe Biden’s backing of Israel’s offensives in Gaza and Lebanon. It helped Trump win the city of Dearborn Heights on his way to victory in the knife-edge swing state.

After the election President Trump named Massad a senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs, praising him for being ‘instrumental in building tremendous new coalitions with the Arab-American Community.’

The president added on Truth Social: ‘Massad is a dealmaker, and an unwavering supporter of PEACE in the Middle East.’

He was then also named the State Department’s senior adviser to Africa and was a key player in a peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.

It was a massive feather in the cap for Massad Boulos and is one of the conflict resolutions President Trump often cites as he makes the case for being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.

In June, Secretary of State Marco Rubio welcomed the foreign ministers of the two countries to the State Department to sign.

He thanked ‘our superstar there, Mr Boulos,’ adding: ‘What do you want to do next after you’re done with this?’

However, there are rumblings from officials within the State Department about Boulos’s methods, and concerns about where the interests of country and family could cross over.

The New York Times recently used holiday snaps Tiffany posted on Instagram to trace her to a 300-foot megayacht in the Mediterranean. The boat is owned by a broker who could benefit from increases in Libyan oil production, and her father-in-law was in Libya negotiating with its government.

All coincidence no doubt, but it will perhaps be a stark reminder to Tiffany of why Ivanka ultimately ducked out of politics.

If she opts to go all-in for her father’s second administration her life, and that of her husband, will be very much under the microscope.