Royalty Stars as Old Allies Reunite : Charity: Prince Andrew joins honoree Bob Hope in Beverly Hills at a benefit for the American Air Museum in Britain.

All was quiet on the Western Front (read Beverly Hills) Thursday night as old allies came together to remember those who fought the good fight back in World War II.

Charlton Heston and Bob Hope were joined by His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, Duke of York, at a benefit party for the American Air Museum in Britain, held at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

Prince Andrew mingled graciously with movie stars, war veterans and aviation enthusiasts at a pre-dinner VIP reception. It appeared that the shrewd security measure of the day was to pepper the crowd with British Secret Service agents who looked exactly like the prince, a move that happily made for a handsome and dashing affair.

The focus of the evening, however, was more on military glory than on the sartorial kind. As Heston pointed out in his address, Andrew was “the youngest person in the room to have seen combat.” (He may also have been the youngest person in the room period, but no matter.)

The prince introduced himself to the dinner crowd of 300, who paid between $500 and $1,000 to attend, “as an aviator who has seen, felt and smelt the fear and anxiety of combat.”

He praised the longstanding ties between the United States and Britain, saying: “Our two nations stood hand in hand for the purpose of destroying the Nazi domination of Europe.”

Georgia Frontiere, owner of the Los Angeles Rams and co-chairperson of the Dinner Committee, best expressed the purpose of the museum: “We had the team over there and took the boys out to visit the RAF bases. Walking into the buildings we saw the pilots’ signatures on the walls. The emotion of it, when you see movies you think these things never happen, but seeing the planes it was brought home to me that it really did.”

The museum is scheduled for completion in 1995, the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, and will house a dozen vintage American fighter planes.

“It will serve as a memorial to those half a million American troops who served in Britain,” said Lord Bramwell, chairman of Britain’s National Museum of Conflict in Duxford, where the 7.5 million museum will be built. “It’s a stunning building, designed by Sir Norman Foster.” Indeed, even Andrew’s elder brother, the architecture critic, must be pleased with this one.

The evening, which raised close to $250,000, concluded with the unveiling of a bust of Gen. James Doolittle, followed by a tribute to Hope that included clips from his 50 years of USO performances and a letter of congratulations from President Clinton, as well as some off-the-cuff gems from the honoree.

“I want to get over there as soon as they get (those old planes) all there,” Hope wisecracked, “because I want to look under the seats. I might have dropped a lot of things in there.”