The
Season in London. For
some, the entire world of Palm Beach, New York and Southampton
was at Claridge’s a couple
of weeks ago, all in London for the Season. There was Wimbledon,
of course, and Sir Elton John’s White
Tie and Tiara benefit as his country house, where it was rumored Rod
Stewart paid
950,000 pounds for an antique Astin Martin at auction.
Then
there was the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert in Hyde Park
for thousands (the RH Chili Peppers were putting up at Claridge’s
also. As were Betsy Bloomingdale, Arnella and Dick
Savitt, Tita Cahn, who was heading for Copenhagen with Pat
Newcomb and then traveling by boat to St. Petersburg.
Also at the same snazzy hostelry – Nicky and Ira Harris, Betty
and Francois Catroux who’d come to London
for a dinner and then were returning to their house in Provence.
Then there was David
Ober, Annette and Oscar de la Renta, Joan Chorney (Marvin
Davis’ sister);
that Texas gal who hardly ever stays home, Joanie Schnitzer
Levy and her husband Irv – who were about to held off
to the Greek islands for a cruise on their yacht and then to
the Hotel du Cap for Lynn Wyatt’s annual birthday party
which takes place next Monday at her Villa Romana in Cap d’Antibes.
The glitterati from all over the globe fall all over themselves
in a rush to Madame Wyatt’s boitday.
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Cristina
de Caraman, Lord Charles Churchill, Charlotte Scott
and Sally
Metcalfe at the Churchill dinner at Drones
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Carol
McFadden at Drones
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But I digress. Wait-a-minute-where-were-we ...? Ah yes, London,
for the Season. Charles Spencer Churchill, or more properly, Lord
Charles, gave a little din din for an army of his closest and mosest
and specifically Marianne and John Castle of Palm Beach at Drones
on Pont Street where the list included Cathleen and Walter
Ross, Countess Cristina de Caraman who was soon departing for Corsica
to visit her pa; Sally and David Metcalfe, Charlotte Scott who
owns the beautiful hotel Transierre in Seville; Carol McFadden,
Arnold Scaasi and Parker Ladd, and Jim Mitchell, from New York.
Another American – by marriage anyway – the
Fifth Avenue chanteuse herself, Mlle. Yanna Avis opened at the Jermyn
Street
Theatre on Wednesday, June 23rd, with all kinds of people in the
audience including Princess Michael of Kent, Denise Hale from San
Francisco, Kate Ford with her daughter Kimberly
du Ross, Bluey Mavrolean, Lord Charles, Carolyn Benson,
Arnold Scaasi and Parker Ladd, and Jim Mitchell (am I repeating
myself or don’t these
people ever sit still?).
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Blenheim
Palace
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The
Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, Sunny and Rosita to
their thousands of friends gave a ball, the following Saturday
evening
. Now that was a spectacular night, especially for all
those rich Americans who think they’ve seen it all (and
owned it too). Croon, June, moon and Blenheim with the ladies
in
their best couture
and oodles of jools, and the gents in white tie.
Tables
of ten set up in the Great Hall, with centerpieces of masses
of summer
flowers from the Blenheim gardens; smoked salmon, filet
of lamb and summer berry pudding, all washed down
with wines, champagne, port and brandy; with music and
toasts to Her Majesty the
Queen
and President Bush and dancing till 3 in the morning.
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Marianne
and John Castle and Rosita,
the duchess of Marlborough at the Blenheim Ball |
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There were
Churchills at every turn – Jack, Randolph,
Luce and Winston, Charles and Jane, the Marquess and Marchioness
of
Blandford, Edward Spencer Churchill and Melissa
Milne, Lady Alexandra Churchill, Lady Henrietta with Bob
Gray (Lady Henrietta organized
things with her father, the duke), Rupert Spencer Churchill,
Serena and Neil Balfour (Serena’s late mother Lady
Sarah was the
eldest sister of the duke). Also Sir Anthony and Lady Bamford,
HRH Prince Khalid Bin Bandar, Carolyn Benson, Betsy Bloomingdale,
Shelby Bryan, Cristina de Caraman, Marianne and John Castle, Jackie
and Paul Desmarais, Dame Vivien Duffield and Sir Jocelyn Stevens,
Tina Fanjula and John B. River, Tom Ford, Sir Rocco and Lady Forte,
David Furnish (his better half, Sir Elton was
on tour — somebody
has to work in this crowd), Lady Victoria Getty, Audrey
and Martin Gruss, Denise Hale, Carolina and Reinaldo Herrera who
had just flown in from their daughter’s wedding in
Spain a few weeks before; Ben Holland-Martin, Liz Hurley and her fiance, Arun
Nayar, Jade Jagger and Tom Bartlett (I told you it was thousands!); Tim
Jefferies, fresh out of his fling with Alex von
Furstenberg, Evelyn and Leonard Lauder, Viscount and Viscountess
Linley – David
and Serena; John Loeb and Sharon Handler, Stella McCartney and
Alasdhair Willis, Lulu, Carole Mack, Aline Massey and Bob Gotcher,
Jim Mitchell (I told you I was repeating myself), Mica
and Bob Mosbacher, Billy Norwich, Mary and Mandy Ourisman, Marina
Palma,
Pauline Pitt and Tom Quick, Hilary Geary and Wilbur Ross, Sir Evelyn and Lady
Rothschild, Wafic Said, Arnold Scaasi and Parker Ladd (what’d
I tell you?), Nicholas
Soames and Lady Soames, Andrew Stein (who used to be married to the current Lady Rothschild known
as Lynn) and Samantha Dark, Mimi Stafford, Christine
and Steven Schwartzman, Senator Mario D’Urso, Liz and Peter
Ward, Sir Mark and Lady Weinberg (known by one and all as Anouska
Hempel),
Hilary and Galen Weston (who own The Fort where another Prince
of Wales first romanced another married paramour, a Mrs. Simpson),
Deborah Norville and Karl Wellner and Lynn
Wyatt. Sorry, I missed
more than a few, but this will have to do.
The day after the ball, for those who had the energy, Lord
and Lady Bamford threw a magnificent luncheon at
their magnificent pile, Daylesford House. About sixty
attended before heading back
to London for a dinner at the Tower of London where kings
and queens used to imprison their own when they had disagreements
over who’s
who and what’s what. Lucky for our travelers, they’re
not into that anymore.
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