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Treasures Borne From English Manors

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Queen Elizabeth II is a lender. Her Majesty is contributing torcheres in the shape of Highlanders, which usually grace the walls at Balmoral Castle, her vacation home in Scotland. The queen’s son, Prince Charles, is also contributing. He’s sending John Wootton’s painting of “Frederick, Prince of Wales’s Shooting Party,” which hangs at the prince’s country home, Highgrove Park.

Admittedly their names have the most clout. But there are quite a few other titled, well-born and knowledgeable Britons who are lending more than 700 of the treasures from their stately homes in England, Scotland and Wales to the exhibition “The Treasure Houses of Britain: Five Hundred Years of Private Patronage and Art Collecting,” which opens at Washington’s National Gallery on Nov. 3. Included in the exhibition, made possible by a grant from the Ford Motor Co., are paintings, furniture, tapestries, porcelains, silver, armor and other objets d’art, all tracing the history of privileged collection by the landed entry from 1485 to the present. The exhibition, the product of some wonderful cooperation between the National Gallery and the British Council, runs through March 16.

The seven major donors are being called the Magnificent Seven. And rightly so. All but the Earl of Harewood will be in Washington in time for the opening festivities, which start off with Mr. and Mrs. John Coleman’s dinner Oct. 30 at their Ritz Carlton Hotel and the black-tie opening-night dinner at the National Gallery hosted by the gallery, its director J. Carter Brown and its board. Those expected are the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough of Blenheim Palace; Lord and Lady Romsey of Broadlands where Prince Charles and Princess Diana spent part of their honeymoon; the Marquis and Marchioness of Tavistock, (the marquis is caretaker for his father, the 13th Duke of Bedford, who owns Woburn Abbey, which is sending 25 items, among them paintings by Canaletto and Sir Joshua Reynolds, silver by Paul de Lamerie and Paul Storr and a tiara made for Queen Caroline Murat); Lord Montague of Beaulieu; the Hon. Simon and Mrs. Howard of Castle Howard where some of “Brideshead Revisited” was filmed, and Mr. and Mrs. Michael Herbert (he’s the chief executive of Warwick Castle).

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Prince Charles and Princess Diana are the royal patrons for the exhibition. But they won’t be arriving until Nov. 9. And that’s when things warm up considerably. On the royal couple’s itinerary are dinners at the White House and the British Embassy and a tres intime affair hosted by the Ford Motor Co.’s president Donald Petersen at the National Gallery.

More parties are in the planning. Paul Mellon, past chairman of the National Gallery’s board and a major benefactor, is hosting a luncheon along the way at his country home in Virginia. And Architectural Digest’s editor in chief Paige Rense is hosting a little luncheon at the Ritz Carlton for the likes of Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham and Pat and Bill Buckley. Color both important.

Jeff Clark, manager of the Riviera Country Club, got on his knees in front of a restaurant full of people and asked Christine Belford, the actress, to marry him. A month later at the engagement party that Eileen and Norman Kreiss threw at their Malibu beach house, Christine reported: “He is what I’ve waited for all my life. I said yes, right away.”

There was a wreath at the Kreiss’ front door and Eileen had used hurricane lamps and white flowers for her decor. Matchboxes and napkins were printed with the couple’s names. And besides dinner Le St. Germain To Go had prepared a tiered wedding cake topped by a miniature bridegroom and bride.

Out on the glassed-in deck overlooking the Pacific the party took on the ambiance of a love-in with toasts in champagne and little speeches by Jeff and Christine and their friends. There were hugs, kisses and many good wishes from Christine’s best friend Linda Evans and Linda’s good friend Richard Cohen. And also from Leo and Pam Wyler, Patty and Charles Hathaway (they own the Riviera Country Club), Dr. Nick and Sally Diaca and Linda and Jim McCullum.

A few days later Linda gave a bridal shower for Christine. And Saturday the pair tie the knot in the gardens of the Wylers’ home.

The Social Scramble: Torie Steele, the Rodeo Drive retailing wonder, and Aldo Pinto of Krizia sent out invitations for a dinner at Mr. Chow to celebrate the opening of the new Krizia boutique in Beverly Hills. Pinto was there. But Ms. Steele was delayed in Europe. “We’ve been selling out so fast she had to place more orders,” explained Tom Mount, who works for Steele and acted as surrogate host along with Stuart Lighton and Robert Gibson. Arriving for cocktails and/or dinner were Linda Gray, Shera Danese Falk who was with Omar (he wore a Hawaiian shirt), Pamela Brando, Muriel and Abe Lipsey (she wore Ferre’s silk dress with the football shoulders), Marcia Wolf, Morgan Fairchild, Marion Laurie, publisher Seth Baker, Mary Parks, Gloria Gilfombain, Lynn Landon and Laura Ashton.

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When she gets back from a holiday in Tahiti with her husband, Dr. Roger Lewis, Hope Boonshaft-Lewis is organizing a trek to San Francisco and a stay at the Clift Hotel to benefit Vista del Mar child care service. The Clift is pulling out all the stops--champagne on arrival, a wine-tasting party and more--and PSA is donating the round-trip tickets for the likes of Vista Del Mar president Albert Gersten Jr. and his wife Marilynn, Ira and Kathy Goldberg, John and Lynn Shane, Lynn and Lorrie Konheim.

The trustees, overseers and director of the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens are inviting its corporate sponsors to a black-tie dinner Oct. 5 in the Virginia Steele Scott Gallery.

It’s the 201st anniversary of Rancho San Pedro, California’s first rancho, and they’re celebrating the event with a festival of California wines Oct. 13 on the historic grounds and gardens of the Dominguez Rancho Adobe (between the cities of Carson and Compton). Tickets are $50 and that covers wines, cheeses, fruit and an engraved souvenir wine glass. The benefit’s padrinos are Mrs. Robert P. Strub and Hernando Courtright and the committee includes Museum curator Father Patrick J. McPolin, Jack P. Hennessy, Jane del Amo, John P. Gearan, William P. Huston, Edward C. Scheller and Arthur P. Carroll.

We already have Opium, Decadence and Scoundrel. Now comes Poison. What will they think of next. Poison is Christian Dior’s new perfume and it was introduced this week at a black-tie gala at the historic and beautiful Chateau de Vaux Le Vicomte outside Paris. Jack and Shirlee Hennessy flew over for the bash hosted by Princess Robin zu Sayn Wittgenstein Berleburg; Alain Chevalier, president of Moet-Hennessy and Maurice Roger, president of Parfums Christian Dior.

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