When she talked to students at a London school for underprivileged girls, her message was about her working-class childhood and her rise through strong values and hard work in school. In other words, she may be wearing Jimmy Choo sling-backs these days, but the first lady pulled herself up by an old-fashioned pair of American bootstraps.

In President Barack Obama's first presidential expedition overseas, he is preaching a new foreign policy, calling on Europeans to set aside negative feelings towards the US in favour of a new era of cooperation.

But Mrs Obama is unveiling her own policy of foreign engagement, one that blends a high-wattage celebrity with a uniquely American message about self reliance and personal possibility a story of special resonance on a continent where no minorities have risen to such prominence.

It was noticeable that while visiting London cancer centre Maggie's, Mrs Obama's feminine skirts and detailed cardigans gave her the air of a woman having coffee with friends.

This was significant, because this tone of female comradeship came to be the defining feature of her visit: greeting cancer patient Trudi Cogdell and her children with the words ''come on big hugs''.

Mrs Cogdell said, ''She's a lovely lady, she's very open ... she'd talk to anyone.''

Mr Obama is asking the world to embrace a new regard for his country. Mrs Obama appears to be trying to show them why they might want to.

Her reception from world leaders and the European public has been exuberant, with ardent crowds gathering at every stop. Attendees at one event were so excited to get the hugs she was dispensing that the secret service agents got a little nervous.

The BBC in one report described Mrs Obama as her husband's co-star in Europe. The London Times, noting the European love affair with former Victoria's Secret model and French first lady Carla Bruni, asked in print, ''Carla who?'' But the fashion press pronounced her every bit Ms Bruni's equal.

The tour brings to mind the 1961 reception for the first lady on President John F.Kennedy's European trip, which prompted the president to introduce himself as ''the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris''. Agencies