First Lady fash-off: Carla Bruni vs Princess Letizia

We're sort of tempted to feel a bit sorry for Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. For a good year, the French First Lady reigned as the queen of fashion in political circles - even when she met The Queen. Then Michelle Obama came along to steal her crown and now, it looks like Carla's facing some competition from her Spanish counterpart, Princess Letizia. The two should get on famously. They've both had, well, colourful pasts - the wife of Crown Prince Felipe was a former news anchor and married once before her current husband. Their marriages caught the public off-guard - the Spaniards didn't even know Princess Letizia was dating Felipe until they announced their engagements. And they're both partial to a diva-style quote or two: ‘I'm a princess don't you know', the Spanish, lest you forget, princess said to a journalist once. But judging by the fashion comparisons that greeted the two First Ladies in Madrid yesterday, somehow we think there'll be a bit of competitiveness between the women. So who wins in the style stakes? Both went patriotic - Carla in Christian Dior and Princess Letizia in one of her favourite Spanish designers Felipe Varela - in dresses worthy of their status. But we can't help but salute a princess who is confident enough to wear a skin-tight bandage dress knowing she's about to meet a supermodel. And we love her sky-scraper heels, which she apparently started wearing because her husband towers above her at 6ft 4in. Bet Carla's rueing Nicholas's shoe-lifts now...