She has been dubbed the “smiling face” of Germany’s newly resurgent Right and sure enough, as Frauke Petry folds herself neatly into a well-upholstered armchair in a luxury Leipzig hotel, she is indeed smiling.

It is a smile that plays permanently across the face of the 40-year-old leader of Alternative for Germany (AfD) and over the last few months has radiated disarmingly out of thousands of election billboards, glossy magazines and newspaper spreads all across Germany.

A research chemist and entrepreneur who only entered politics seriously in 2013, Mrs Petry has had an alchemical effect on the fortunes of Germany’s far-right, broadening the party’s appeal and scoring unprecedented success in this month’s regional elections.