Bush's niece warned off trip to UK

Lauren Bush had planned to spend the summer in London, studying and working at fashion shows.

But yesterday New York magazine reported that the 18-year-old had been advised to stay in the US because the possibility of war made the trip too dangerous. Instead, she will spend the summer taking acting classes in New York.

Miss Bush, the daughter of the president’s younger brother Neil, is the face of the clothing label Tommy Hilfiger and has appeared in numerous international fashion events. Her striking looks have drawn comparisons to the late Jackie Onassis. Last year she denied reports that she had a flirty e-mail relationship with Prince William.

The security warning came as Mr Bush’s other brother, Jeb, created diplomatic embarrassment after mistakenly describing Spain, one of the staunchest supporters of the US position, as a republic.

In the kind of gaffe George Bush has been famed for, the governor of Florida temporarily forgot King Juan Carlos as he complimented Jose Maria Aznar, the prime minister whose title, in Spanish, is president of the government.

Speaking in Madrid he said: "I would like to finish by thanking the president of the republic of Spain for his friendship with the United States."

Sadly for Mr Bush, Spain has not been a republic since the late 1930s, when General Francisco Franco crushed Republican troops in the Civil War. His nationalist dictatorship, on paper a kingdom for most of its life, lasted until his death in 1975, when Spain became a constitutional monarchy.

But the Spanish government is unlikely to be too upset by the slip. As prime minister, Mr Aznar has been a firm backer of Mr Bush’s stand against Iraq and even appears to have forgiven his inability to pronounce his name - Mr Bush called him Anzar instead of Aznar - before his first visit to Spain as US president in 2001, but it did not prevent the two becoming personal friends and close allies.

However, a Spanish historian, Juan Pablo Fusi, was less forgiving of Jeb Bush’s slip-up, calling it a "foolish and grotesque error".

"It’s an offence to Spain and its democratic monarchy," Mr Fusi said. "It further ridicules the Bushes in general."