Michelle Obama visits Ronda

By Fiona Govan in Marbella

The First Lady, her youngest daughter Sasha, and their group of friends left the Spanish coast and travelled to Ronda for a day of sightseeing accompanied by their vast security escort in a 13 car motorcade.

The group — which included a number of Mrs Obama's friends – visited some of the town's historic houses and later stopped for lunch at Del Escudero restaurant, set in a 19th century villa with whitewashed walls and red roof tiles located next to the bullring.

Meanwhile at the five-star luxury Villa Padierna, where the group have chosen to spend their mini-break, preparations were under way for Marbella's event of the year – a star-studded charity gala hosted by Hollywood A-listers Antonio Banderas and Eva Longoria.

Expectation was high that the First Lady would be the special guest at the event on Saturday night after she received a personal invitation from Ms Longoria, star of Desperate Housewives, who lent her support to Barack Obama during his presidential campaign.

More than 400 tickets have been sold for the Starlite Gala at 1000 euros each, according to organisers, and reports suggested that this week another 200 people had applied for tickets and were on a waiting list after learning that Mrs Obama might be present.

Among those clamouring to dine in the same room as the wife of the US President are a host of European celebrities and aristocrats, including Gunilla Gräfin von Bismarck, great-granddaughter of Otto, who has a home in Marbella.

Also in attendance will be tennis player Boris Becker with his wife Lilly Kerssenberg, and bestselling spiritual guru Deepak Chopra, who had all flown in for the fund-raising Starlite gala in aid of children's charities.

One name on the guest list that could raise a few eyebrows among US diplomatic circles is Adnan Khashoggi.

The Saudi Arabian businessman, 75, who made his name as an arms dealer in the 1980s, was linked to the Iran-Contra scandal in which the Reagan administration allegedly sanctioned the sale of weapons to Iran in breach of an international arms embargo.

Another rumoured to be on the guest list is Sir Mark Thatcher, the disgraced son of the former Prime Minister, who has a home in the hills above Marbella.

It could be one of the only opportunities for him to rub shoulders with such American elite as he has been banned from the US following his conviction in South Africa of unknowingly funding an attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea.

If Mrs Obama does chose to attend the event it is unlikely that she will join guests to dance the night away at the after-party organised in Marbella's premier nightclub, the Disco Olivia Valere.

She has an invitation to lunch on Sunday with Spain's King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia at their summer palace on the island of Majorca before flying home to Washington DC.