Jeb Bush's planned campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has suffered a setback with revelations that his wife Columba spent $42,311 in a single day on jewellery including a Bulgari diamond bracelet.
Mrs Bush, 61, is reported to have taken out a loan of $42,311 from a Florida jeweller in order to buy the bracelet and other items.
Details of the purchases, reported first by the Washington Post, have put a new spotlight on Mrs Bush, who during her husband's two terms as governor of Florida between 1999 and 2007 kept a notably low profile and is known to have had reservations about his running for president.
Records filed by Mayors Jewellers of Miami showed that Mrs Bush, a Mexican national who met her husband in 1971 when he was an exchange student, took out $90,000 in loans over a 15-year period. Most recently, she bought a $11,700 Rolex watch and a $9,500 pair of earrings. Mr Bush tweeted a wedding photograph yesterday to mark the couple's 41st wedding anniversary
Her aversion to publicity was in part born of another episode when she failed to declare $19,000 in purchases made during a shopping spree in Paris in 1999. She was mortified at the political damage to her husband but also felt unfairly treated by the press.