The "trial" that sealed the Ceausecus' fate was perhaps the perfect foil for the decades of falsification and fraud that defined Elena's scientific career. Behr calls the proceedings "farcical" and it is clear that the prosecutors were performing an act of restitution that the entire nation desperately needed. Hafez was dead by the time Asma moved to Damascus at the end of 2000, but his legacy was ubiquitous, from the Soviet-style architecture to adulatory billboards bearing his face. His support for terrorist organisations across the region had cut off Syria from the West. Bashar’s ascendance was an opportunity to reset relations. First ladies’ fashion choices are scrutinised in ways that would be unthinkable for their besuited husbands beyond their choice of tie colour. Conversely, not much ink has been spilled on the wardrobe choices of Doug Emhoff, second gentleman and spouse of Vice-President Kamala Harris. It continued: “She’s a rare combination: a thin, long-limbed beauty with a trained analytic mind who dresses with cunning understatement. Paris Match calls her ‘the element of light in a country full of shadow zones’. She is the first lady of Syria.” She cites the recent news of Melania Trump launching a non-fungible token (NFT) – a watercolour depicting her eyes. “She called it ‘an amulet to inspire’ and I thought that was actually a perfect representation of Melania’s time in power because it’s a thing, but it’s not a thing. It’s not something you can touch. It’s a representation, an empty emblem, a hollow image, and that felt like a microcosm of her time as first lady,” explains Berry.

Freya Berry - Watson Little

No one knows what goes on behind closed doors. These are private people in public roles, a personal relationship writ into statesmanship,” Berry clarifies. “I just felt like the last time I really read about a fictional dictator’s wife was probably Lady Macbeth and I thought maybe it could do with a second look.” When her hair fell out she was photographed wearing chic headscarves, projecting both vulnerability and strength, an irresistible metaphor for her husband’s own struggle against the insurgency. “Congratulations on your victory over cancer,” began one TV interviewer. “Thank you,” replied Asma. “And I hope we will soon celebrate Syria’s victory.”With Makhlouf hobbled and Bashar’s sister and mother gone, Asma has few substantial rivals within the inner circle. Many of her closest advisers fill top posts in the president’s office. “She’s in control of palace appointees,” said a businessman who travels between Damascus and Europe. “She can nominate whomever she wants.” Imelda Marcos talks to the press at the Manila international airport on 10 December 1997. Photograph: Bullit Marquez/AP Alawite hardliners are unlikely to support any bid by Asma for the presidency. Perhaps her most powerful potential opponent is Maher, Bashar’s younger brother, who still commands the feared Fourth Armoured Division of the army. “The military and the sect will conspire to stop her standing as president,” said a well-connected Syrian trader in Dubai. She seemed destined for a life among London’s monied elite. As a teenager Asma went to one of Britain’s oldest private girls’ schools, Queen’s College, a few doors down from her father’s private medical practice in Harley Street. She did a degree in computer science at King’s College London, where both friends and detractors recall her as clever and hard-working. She was also effective. “It was surprising how many times she said ‘I’d like something to happen’, and it happened,” said someone who worked for her in Damascus for six years. Her staff kept to the punishing schedule she’d grown accustomed to at J.P. Morgan: the office opened at 6am and work continued into the evening. Officials knew to consult Asma, not the culture minister, on major questions.

Banker, princess, warlord: the many lives of Asma Assad Banker, princess, warlord: the many lives of Asma Assad

At one point in The Dictator’s Wife, Popa insists: “My clothes, my jewellery, they are my amulets. My protection.” The narrator adds: “Protection. Survival. She spoke the language of the hunted, yet who was her hunter?” In her heyday Popa, we are told, introduced an all-female staff to her factory long before “girl power” became a rallying cry. She palled around with Ronald Reagan, Paul Newman and Saddam Hussein, and was a particular favourite of the British queen. She is described as “a hypnotic blend of Joan of Arc and Imelda Marcos; both goddess and she-devil, princess and tyrant, martyr and uber-bitch”. Elena Ceausescu: Doctor Horroris. Youtube, 21 Aug. 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSoxcc6ZPoI. Elena's PhD in chemistry was based on a thesis defense that never occurred. Indeed, there was nothing to present.

As head of the Syria Trust, Asma gained more than just wealth. Funnelling UN aid, she developed a vast network of patronage that included Syrian warlords. People reportedly showed gratitude for her protection and benevolence in the form of suitcases full of cash delivered to organisations she was associated with.