Royal Watchers: Prince Andrew to Call

Royalty’s visiting. His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, will be preeminent April 7 when Bob Hope is honored at a dinner with Charlton Heston as master of ceremonies. It’s black-tie at the Beverly Wilshire.

William Lyon, retired Air Force major general, is dinner chairman and Georgia Frontiere honorary co-chair. The affair, benefiting the American Air Museum in Britain, is $500 for dinner, $1,000 if you accept for the reception with Hope and the Duke of York.

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Upcoming Gala: California native son and former President Richard Nixon is coming home to Yorba Linda. Caroline Ahmanson and Lodwrick M. Cook will co-chair the black-tie “Legacy of Peace” tribute to the 37th President on June 16 at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace.

Nixon’s daughter Julie Nixon Eisenhower flew into town to meet Ahmanson, Cook and John Argue last week at a luncheon heralding the affair.

The evening is billed as a spectacular tribute featuring a “White House State Dinner” prepared by Henry Haller, executive chef for five Presidents--Lyndon Johnson, Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

Proceeds go to the library. The goal is 250 tickets sold at $2,500 for a gross of $625,000.

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Skytop: As the city’s lights twinkled through the Italian pines surrounding Walter and Peggy Grauman’s skytop home in Bel-Air, more than 150 mulled the choices--whether to stand and be mesmerized by the sight or turn to the sights inside where the Graumans have recently rearranged their eclectic collections of memorabilia.

It was a night for the hosts’ two Persian cats, Sweetpea and Jennifer, to be confined to Peggy’s shower, but each well-endowed with a Williams-Sonoma glass of water and a blue and white Japanese bowl of kibble.

But, if there’s one thing the Graumans love almost as much as their collections--and cats--it’s the Spotlight Awards for young talent in the performing arts. They’ve been deeply involved, along with Helen Bing, for six years.

This year the Spotlight event will be March 29. Last week, the Music Center’s Fraternity of Friends hosted a cocktail party at the Graumans’ to kick off the awards, which are sponsored now by Pacific Telesis Foundation and provide a competition for $45,000 in scholarships for high school students. Friends president Fred Roberts and Anne Johnson will assist in staging the event.

At the Graumans’, Spotlight committee members joined in the fun--Sandra Ausman, Allan Burns, Caryl and A.J. Carothers, Bridget Martens, Suzanne Marx and Diane Morton. After marveling at how the Graumans keep everything so dust-free, they all devoured Rococo-catered sausages, veggies and skewered chicken in the kitchen while three shiny black grand pianos tinkled away.

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Vision: Secretary of Energy Hazel O’Leary, the first woman and the first African American to serve in the Cabinet post, never stood still at the Black Business Assn.’s 20th annual awards dinner Thursday evening at the Westin Bonaventure.

Roaming the room with a microphone and a peripatetic gait, she said she was doing what she likes best--”talk and walk.” She cajoled her audience and put it in the palm of her hand with her comment, “Nothing changes without vision. . . . It’s a bold business future we are after.”

The BBA began 20 years ago when a group of black businessmen set out to visit the leading CEOs in town. Last week, 600 assembled in black-tie to honor numerous companies and individuals who have contributed to opportunities for minority and women-owned businesses.

The evening also was a celebration of Black History Month. The group paid tribute to dinner chairman John E. Bryson, chairman and CEO of Southern California Edison, which was one of the first supporters of the group.

Prominent in the crowd were BBA board chairwoman Mary Ann Mitchell; Assemblywoman Gwen Moore, who was honorary dinner chairwoman; Bill Nesbit; Alescia Buford; John LeDay; Lillian Pernell; Skip Cooper; George A. Bivins Jr.; Betty Johnson; Michael York; Larry McCormick; Fawn Jordan; Vince Bryson; Bill Hawkins; Jerry Medley; Carlis McGhee and Marilyn Morton.

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Nancy for MS: Celebs and friends of Nancy Davis braved snow and sleet to join her crusade to fund research into the cause and cure for multiple sclerosis--the Race to Erase MS--in Aspen.

Some of the proceeds will go to UCLA for work directed by Dr. George Ellison.

Ken Rickel, Davis’ fiance, joined her on the slopes. So did her mother, Barbara Davis, and celebs Marlee Matlin, Harry Hamlin, Kenny Loggins and Lynda Carter.

Seen two-stepping at the Hotel Jerome at Friday night’s Western party were race auction chair Lynn Palmer and husband Paul, Lee and Darrien Iacocca, Paul and Kymberly Marciano, Jolene and George Schlatter, and Justine and Robert Bloomingdale.

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Birthdays: Angelenos were in black-tie in Washington earlier this month for former President Ronald Reagan’s 83rd birthday. Lady Margaret Thatcher was keynoter at the National Building Museum.

And a large crowd of Junior Fellows and benefactors turned out for breakfast at the Huntington Library in San Marino to celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s 185th birthday and watch Dr. B. Eugene Griessan dramatize famous Lincoln moments.

Youngsters were in abundance: Nancy Call brought grandchildren Joe and Tom McCullough and Phineas and Patrick Regan; Diana Callery brought Maggie and Caroline Blaney; Susan Chandler brought daughter Katie, and Dorrie Poole came with several young Pooles.

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Kudos: To Peggy Slater, San Pedro resident honored by Childrens Hospital Los Angeles for her multimillion-dollar estate gift to the hospital. Slater is known as the sailing world’s Amelia Earhart, holding 800 trophies for sailing prowess. A floor of the hospital’s new outpatient tower has been dedicated to her.