Smooth Seas at ‘Great Age’ : Benefit: A prince and princess added to the glamour of a night at the San Diego Museum of Art.

Yes, Prince Michael and Princess Michael charmed the haute couture socks off the crowd last Friday at the San Diego Museum of Art.

And yes, the “Great Age of Sail” exhibit of paintings and artifacts from the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, is undeniably soul-stirring, even to stolid landlubbers.

And yes, “It’s Greenwich Time,” the gala that opened the showing was not merely grand, but actually rather magnificent.

But, even so, the best part was the revelation of the ever-so-mundane chain of events that--perfectly timed to correspond with the America’s Cup races--led to San Diego’s opportunity to show these masterworks by Joseph Mallord William Turner, William Hogarth, John Singleton Copley, Joshua Reynolds and others.

Joseph Hibben, a former president of SDMA and the low-key arts patron credited with bringing to fruition the Soviet Arts Festival held here several years ago, said a certain degree of expediency on the part of the Greenwich museum led to the local exhibit.

“We asked for this exhibit three different years, and the Maritime Museum said ‘no’ each time,” said Hibben, adding that a change of mood came about rather suddenly. “Museum officials told me, ‘We’ve been wanting to refurbish this museum for the longest time. It hasn’t been repainted in 100 years, and we were wondering what to do with the paintings in the meanwhile.’ ”

The answer, of course, was to ship the best of the lot to San Diego, the first American venue to show the collection of artifacts and often dramatic paintings of sea battles, triumphs and tragedies, and of players in historic scenes. Major underwriting for the exhibit was provided by Hibben and his wife, Ingrid, and by Alice and Richard Cramer, Walter Fitch III and Lois and Donald Roon and the Roon Foundation. Following the local show, the collection will travel to museums in Norfolk, Va., and Salem, Mass.

Since the Greenwich institution, like so many cultural repositories in Great Britain, enjoys the patronage of the royal family, royal representation was deemed necessary at the opening. The duty fell to Prince Michael of Kent (first cousin to Queen Elizabeth and, born on the Fourth of July, 1942, godson of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt), and to Princess Michael, born in Germany and raised partly in Sydney, Australia, which explained her not-quite-veddy British accent.

“I think it’s cute that Prince Mike and Princess Mike have the same name,” purred one guest. “That way you don’t forget.” The explanation for the names lies, of course, in the arcane rules by which British royalty conducts itself; upon marrying into the House of Windsor, it became necessary for the princess to become known by her husband’s name, much as American women used to be styled Mrs. John Smith rather than Jane Smith.

The crowd of 420 prominent San Diegans, if not lacking in savoir faire , exhibited to a degree the American uncertainty of correct deportment in the presence of royalty. The prince and princess seemed both aware and sportingly dismissive of the acute anxiety they caused.

Princess Michael, making an entrance to politely nervous applause, bobbed and smiled to the guests in a sort of shorthand body language that, quite clearly, meant, “Relax.” The prince, with his neatly clipped beard, looked strikingly like the crowned Georges and Edwards who are his ancestors; after explaining that his family has “rather strong naval connections,” he expressed himself pleased to declare “The Great Age of Sail” exhibit officially open. At that moment, however, it was the royalty that was looked over, while the artworks were overlooked.

The cocktail reception, something of a marathon at two hours and given in the rotunda and the Asian gallery, honored the royals with such canapes as Cheddar cheese puffs and cucumber rounds spread with salmon mousse; the tiny squares of goat cheese pizza, on the other hand, took an apolitical stance that at most pledged fealty to the domain of hors d’oeuvres.

The scene glittered, reflecting closets and vaults emptied of the best gowns and jewels and making obvious the sincerity behind the frequently heard comment, “I’ve been looking forward to this one for months.” The jewels worn by the princess glittered the most historically, however. The immense pearls in her necklace (large enough to have given the average oyster severe indigestion), formerly graced noble throats in Czarist Russia, where her grandfather was the last Austro-Hungarian ambassador to the Court of St. Petersburg. Her tiara, long in Prince Michael’s family, once crowned Queen Victoria and was paved with the last, if by no means modestly sized, diamonds to be dug from the fabled Golconda Mine in India.

“It’s Greenwich Time” chairmen Martha and George Gafford staged the gala in two parts, giving the dinner and dance under a vast, transparent tent that faced the museum from the parking lot and had been decorated as an antique maritime fantasy. Old Globe Theatre designer Robert Brill set the scene with exquisite details that even included a compass embossed on the sea-blue dance floor; the immense astrolabe that hung overhead displayed the signs of the zodiac in twinkling lights. Smaller astrolabes decorated the tables, which had been swathed to the ground in white, and even the chairs were outfitted in white slipcovers, jauntily belted at the back like safari jackets.

A feared thunderstorm--which undeniably might have made this maritime masquerade an even splashier affair--failed to arrive, allowing the cleverest part of the decor, the constantly changing color slides of “Great Age of Sail” artworks projected on the museum’s exterior walls, to remain visible through the clear tent.

“The evening has come together perfectly, and we’re delighted to have such distinguished guests, but I’m happiest for the museum,” said Martha Gafford. “We’re going to make tons of new friends for the museum, and that is exactly the goal that George and I have worked so hard for. But tonight is beyond anything we dared hope for, and we’re just ecstatic!”

Ecstasy, or at least excitement, seemed the mood shared by most museum and gala principals and most guests. “The whole evening’s a thrill,” said SDMA director Steven Brezzo. “This is an international event that is as exciting for London as for San Diego.” SDMA president DeWitt Shuck added: “It’s a wonderfully memorable occasion for the museum.”

The Bill Green Orchestra and singer Robert Benjamin alternated through the evening, and the museum catered the dinner, which opened with a lavish seafood arrangement, progressed to roasted tenderloin in sauce perigourdine and finished whimsically with chocolate sailboats stuffed with mousse.

The choicest seating was at the Roon and Cramer tables, which respectively hosted the prince and the princess; among guests in these parties were Jane and Lou Metzger, Jo Bobbie and Guy Showley, Dagmar Brezzo and Anne and John Davies. Notables from Great Britain included Cmdr. Graham Mann of the Royal Yacht Squadron, and his wife, Carol; British Consul General Reg Holloway and his wife, Anna; Lt. Col. Sir Christopher Thompson and Lady Anna; National Maritime Museum director Richard Ormond, with collections chief Gillian Lewis and curator Roger Quarm.

Among guests were Jean Stern and Cuilly Burdett; Yves Carcelle, president of Louis Vuitton, sponsor of the Vuitton Cup; Emmy and Bud Cote; Helen and Bennett Wright; Susan and Craig McClellan; Audrey Geisel; Helene and Ed Muzzy; Alison and George Gildred; Katie and Michael Dessent; Luba Johnston; Charmaine and Maurice Kaplan; Yolanda Walther-Meade and her son, George; Carolyn Yorston and Louis Gessay; Harriet and Richard Levi; Virginia and Jack Monday; Elizabeth and William Zongker; Kathy and Sandy Purdon; Jane and Frank Rice; Mary and Bruce Hazard; Kathy and George Pardee; Cheryl and Ron Kendrick; Dixie and Ken Unruh, and Mary and Walter Smyk.