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Finally,
the trees in the park are turning that deep autumnal yellow that
after a rainfall coats the roads and sidewalks and dapples
the green lawns of the parks. It makes me think of the brisk,
cold weather coming, and warm cozy Saturdays and Sundays, with
steaming hot chocolate after coming from outdoors, bundled
up in woolens (including cashmeres if that is your wont); as
romantic and sentimental as it sounds.
Last week was the annual gala dinner dance
of the American Associates of the Royal
Academy Trust. This year they celebrate their 20th anniversary.
This is one of those gilted benefits, always held at
the Rainbow Room – one of the greatest rooms in
the City, now seventy years old, still beautiful and
resplendent with its views of the metropolis. The women
dress, some of the jewels come out. The men are in black
tie and there is a preponderance of the silver and the
greying, (and the blonde and the streamlining, if you
catch my drift), lending an air of substance, illusory
and otherwise, to the evening. Each year an eminent guest
is honored, usually a member of the Royal Family. This
year’s honored guest was Prince Michael
of Kent who attended with Princess Michael
of Kent.
The organization reflects a 300 year history of the Royal Academy
of Arts (Professor Philip King CBE, President),
which was founded under the auspices of George III.
The Royal Academy’s first director was Joshua Reynolds,
followed by an American painter, Benjamin West.
The American Revolution then quickly ended this country’s relationship
with the Royal Academy for more than a century. However, all of that
has been changed in the past twenty years when the American Associates
have raised approximately $30 million for the Royal Academy. As Prince
Charles, who is Honorary President of the Royal Academy
Trust, noted in this evening’s program, the Americans’ generosity
has “given (them) the magnificently restored American Associates
Gallery, the splendid Sackler Wing of Galleries and the most welcome
new Annenberg Courtyard.
Whatwith the Windsors’ occupying the throne
of their great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, the Anglo-American
relationship has survived intact. George III’s granddaughter, Queen
Victoria, was also daughter of a Duke of Kent.
The new British Ambassador Sir David Manning gave
the opening remarks. Prince Michael also spoke briefly. The co-chairs
for the evening were Andrey Gruss, Frances S. Hayward and Ann
Nitze. Dinner co-chairs were Anna Mann, Sandra Payson and Tom
Quick. Young fellow co-chairs were Serena Lese and Tina
Radziwill. Rodney Gow OBE and Martin
Sullivan were corporate co-chairs. And through the efforts
of all the abovementioned, the Americans raise a substantial sum
to continue the Royal Academy’s substantive contribution to
our often uneasy culture.
This is also a fairly tame evening, as galas go in New York, and
a lovely one. The speechifying is brief, always informative, sometimes,
depending on the speaker, sprinkled with wit. Bob Hardwick and
his orchestra played and the round (and sometimes revolving) dancefloor
was always crowded. A good example of the public imagination of a
society gala. The Rainbow Room being a Cipriani establishment, the
menu was their rich and tasty signature – a salad of haricot
vers and lobster, rack of lamb, baby artichokes Alla Romana, fresh
veggies and some kind of fancy potato concoction. Dessert was Baked
Alaska with strawberry sauce and a mixture of bluebs, strawbs and
raspberries at the center. Rich, didn’t finish it.
I was seated at Princess Michael’s table. The Princess has
just finished writing her biography of Marie de Medici,
the mother of Louis XIII. Simon & Schuster will publish it next
year. I heard a short lecture the Princess gave about Marie a year
or so ago. It was reported somewhere in these pages. Fascinating,
amusing and provocative, if you have even a passing interest in history.
Princess Michael, as I’ve written here before, is a compelling
storyteller with the voice and style of an actress as if portraying
the perfect princess telling an excellent royal tale of woes and
woebegones. |
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