Social Diary 10/28/03 - Our London correspondent catches the flavor:It was a glorious week in London

The Week Before the Week That Was

Liz Ward, Jim Mitchell, Ben Holland Martin, Carolyn Benson, Pauline Pitt, and Felix Mirando at the Farm Shop at Daylesford

Lesly Smith, Forbes Singer, and Lady Bamford at Blenheim Palace

Dawn Perrett and Liz Ward

Our London correspondent catches the flavor:

It was a glorious week in London. The weather was superb and it did not rain. It was the week of Liz Ward's birthday party, lunches, dinners and weekends in the country.

It all started at the Ward’s house, Cornwell Manor in Oxfordshire (Peter Ward is the brother of the Earl of Dudley and his stepmother is Grace Dudley). Pauline Pitt, Lesly Smith and Felix Mirando flew in from Palm Beach. Jane Churchill, Carolyn Benson, Jim Mitchell, Rick and Mary Hambro, Anne and Forbes Singer, Dawn Perrett and Ben Holland Martin were guests for the weekend.

There were black tie dinners every night, luncheons every day, a trip to the Daylesford Farm Shop which is owned by Sir Anthony and Lady Bamford. The Bamfords, who also own The Virginian, a 240-foot yacht that was built for John Kluge, live in a magnificent house on the property.

Pauline Pitt and Felix Mirando

On Sunday, Rosita and Sunny, (known to the world as the duke and duchess of Marlborough) gave a big luncheon in the private apartments of Blenheim Palace, not far from the Ward’s. After lunch, everyone headed back to London for a week of more lunches, dinners for Liz Ward and her big birthday party on Wednesday, October 8.

There were luncheons at Drones and Claridges, as well Kathy Ford's house in Henley on the Thames (Henry Ford II bought the house from Lee and Stash Radziwill in 1974 — Pauline Pitt and Lesly Smith were staying with Kathy Ford at her house in London). Princess Ezra Jah gave a luncheon at Lincontro on Pimilico Road. Ezra, whose father was the last Sultan of Turkey, was once married to the Nizam of Hyderabad. Then there was also Ned Ryan’s luncheon for the girls at Scalini, as well as Roudi Alam's dinner at Crockfords and Prince and Princess Chahran Pahlavi's luncheon at their house.

After all of the parties it was time for the birthday party. Peter Ward gave the party for his wife at 6 Hamilton Place (formerly the Rothschild mansion near Hyde Park and later John Mills’ restaurant and gambling club “Les Ambassadeurs”).

At Liz Ward's birthday party (from l. to r.): Felix Mirando and Dawn Perrett; Sunny, the duke of Marlborough and Lesly Smith.

120 guests, bejeweled and black-tied, including Viscount and Lady Astor, Sir Anthony and Lady Bamford, Cilla Black, John Bowes Lyon, (the Queen’s cousin), Carolyn Benson, Christopher Balfour, Lord and Lady Charles Spencer-Churchill and their three sons, Rupert, Dominic and Alexander; Lord Colin Campbell, Grace, the Countess of Dudley, Kathy Ford, Pauline Pitt, Lesly Smith, Felix Mirando, Jim Mitchell, Rupert Galliers-Pratt, Hilary Geary and Wilbur Ross, Diana and Philip Harari, (Diana is Gail Theodoracopolous' mother, and Philip was first married to Mary McFadden), Nicky Haslam, Ben Holland Martin, David Ker, Lita and George Livanos, Philip Martyn, the Marlboroughs, (who were off to Portugal for a shooting weekend), Sally and David Metcalfe, Caroline (in a beautifully tailored tuxedo) and Bluey Mavrolean, the Marchioness of Northampton, Dawn Perrett, Ned Ryan, Hilary Pilkington, Prince and Princess (Eugenie) John Radziwill (he is Grace Dudley's son), Anne and Forbes Singer, Sir Mark and Lady Weinberg, Lady Dashwood, the Marques and Marchioness of Worcester, Jeremy Ward ( Liz and Peter Ward’s son) and his fiancé Amelia Hine (they are being married on June 12 in England), Benjie Ward (also Liz and Peter's son) who works for the Bamfords at the Daylesford Farm Shop.

They dined on smoked Scottish salmon with potted shrimp, Scottish beef cakes with ragout of tomatoes, cheese and chived mashed potatoes, butterscotch ice cream in a brandy snap basket and champagne served in glass that lighted up red when the champagne was poured in it. After dinner lighted up red as they all were, everyone danced till dawn (to 60's music) as the sun rose over the Thames.

ED. NOTES: Do you think they had enough to eat?