The glamorous young wife of Gamal Mubarak, son of the Egyptian president, is set to become the first lady of the Middle East if, as expected, her husband becomes Egypt’s next leader.

This week Mubarak will use his keynote speech at the annual conference of the ruling National Democratic party (NDP) to kick off a campaign to become its presidential candidate in 2011, almost guaranteeing that he will succeed his father, Hosni Mubarak, 81, who has ruled Egypt for 28 years.

Gamal’s 27-year-old wife Khadija, a wealthy society beauty with a business degree from the American University in Cairo, has kept a low profile and refused all interviews since their wedding two years ago. She rarely appears in the glossy magazines that chronicle Cairo’s elite and is seldom photographed at social events.

That may be about to change if her husband stands for president. In a rare public appearance she was photographed in elegant designer clothes at the World Economic Forum in Sharm el-Sheikh.

“She would be a perfect first lady for Egypt,” said a businessman friend of her family. “She is intelligent, genuinely sweet and knows the world very well. She has class.”

A fluent English speaker, she works for her father, Mahmoud el-Gamal, who owns one of Egypt’s largest construction companies and vast property holdings. At weekends she occasionally plays football at the Gezira Sporting Club, a watering hole on a fashionable island in central Cairo.

The couple married in a lavish private wedding ceremony and live in the wealthy Cairo suburb of Zamalek.

Pressure to sort out the succession has been growing, as rumours circulate about the state of the president’s health. On paper Egypt is a democratic republic, although Mubarak’s party has dominated the political scene for decades and the government keeps a tight control over the press and broadcasters.

At a three-day annual conference of the NDP Gamal, 46, is expected to win a high-profile role that will pave the way for him to become the party’s candidate, although he denies this in public. He has the backing of younger, technocratic ministers. “They are loyal to Gamal, not Hosni,” said Wael Abbas, a political analyst.

Opposition groups have already launched a campaign to stop his bandwagon, although his election would mean the end of 50 years of military rule.

It would also be the moment when Khadija would be forced to step out from the shadows.

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