O.C. Gets Set to Receive Royalty’s ‘Good Girl’

A 100-foot yacht is being varnished, a mansion refreshed and the gentry are learning to curtsy.

Princess Alexandra of Britain is coming to Orange County.

First cousin to Queen Elizabeth II, the princess and her husband, Sir Angus Ogilvy--along with a retinue that includes a dresser, valet and inspector from Scotland Yard--will arrive at John Wayne Airport on Sunday for a two-day, whirlwind visit.

Highlights of the tour will include a Newport Bay cruise aboard a yacht belonging to George and Judie Argyros of Newport Beach, a black-tie supper at the Balboa Bay Club hosted by Sir Eldon Griffiths--president of the World Affairs Council of Orange County--and visits to the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa and Chapman University in Orange.

The princess and her entourage will stay at the Southern-style mansion of John and Donna Crean of Newport Beach.

It was Griffiths of Laguna Niguel, a former member of British Parliament, who landed the visit from Alexandra. She first came here in 1990 to participate in the Festival of Britain in Costa Mesa.

Griffiths, who was knighted by the queen in 1987, learned that the princess would be attending “the concluding phases of the British-Arizona Festival” this month. “So I suggested to her that, since she was that close, she might want to come the extra mile. She liked the idea.”

Griffiths, 72, wants the princess to get a second look at Orange County. “Orange County has gone through some difficult periods since her last visit--gone bust, for one. It’s our opportunity to say to Alexandra, ‘This lovely county that has everything is now out of bankruptcy, out of the recession and moving into a new age.’ ”

Calling her “one of the most intelligent” members of the royal household, Griffiths quickly adds that Alexandra is “the good girl.”

“There’s been so much offensive publicity attached to the, quote, ‘bad girls,’ that I thought it would be a good idea for people to see a real working member of the royal family,” he says.

Throughout her adult life, Alexandra has come to be known as the “professional princess,” representing Britain and the Royal Family at official engagements at home and abroad. “She often stands in for the queen at events,” Griffiths says.

Alexandra, who was born on Christmas Day in 1936, is a descendant of King George V, King Edward VII, Queen Victoria, King George I of Greece, King Christian IX of Denmark and the ill-fated Czar Alexander II of Russia.

Her father, Prince George, the Duke of Kent--the son of King George V and Queen Mary--died in 1942 in a plane crash on his way to tour RAF bases in Iceland. The princess was raised in Coppins--her family’s country home in the Buckinghamshire village of Iver--by her mother, Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent.

Because she is “Her Royal Highness, a member of the Royal Household,” there’s a protocol that is expected in Alexandra’s presence, notes Lady Betty Griffiths, wife of Sir Eldon Griffiths.

For example, Betty Griffiths will curtsy when she greets the princess.

“It’s a mark of respect,” she explains, “just a bend of the knee and a little bob--not one of those big, low-down ones of the old-fashioned sort. And I’ll only do it once. More than that would be excessive and ridiculous.”

Guests who chat with the princess would do well to stick to “small talk,” Betty Griffiths advises.

“It would be improper to ask her anything about her personal life--not discreet,” she says. “You’re better off bringing up an occasion which you know she recently attended, or her charities, her children.

“And then there’s always the weather.”

Soon after her arrival in Orange County, the princess and her entourage will board the Huntress yacht for a sunset cruise and Dom Perignon Champagne reception on the aft deck with hosts George and Judie Argyros.

Guests will be invited to remove their shoes, says Judie Argyros. “We’ll be on our way to a black-tie dinner, and heels leave black scuff-marks on the teak. We’ll provide muted green surgical booties for guests to pad around in.”

Next stop: a private formal dinner at the Balboa Bay Club attended by about 125 people who represent the county’s “cultural, educational and business communities,” says Eldon Griffiths.

During dinner, guests will hear a rendition of “Candle in the Wind,” a tribute to the late Princess Diana.

On Monday, Alexandra and her husband will visit Chapman University and the Orange County Performing Arts Center, where she will attend a reception and working rehearsal of “Mikado,” an opera soon to be staged by Opera Pacific in Segerstrom Hall.

“Princess Alexandra is very gracious and charming, easy to talk to,” says Patrick Veitch, executive director of Opera Pacific. Veitch met the princess when he was an opera director in Australia. “She is very committed to the arts--someone who takes great interest in what performers do.”

During her visit to Chapman, university President Jim Doti will give her a tour of Roosevelt Hall. “Given the close association of Churchill and FDR during World War II, we thought she would be particularly interested in that,” Doti says.

“We’ll also take her for a walk through our sculpture garden, where we have a bust of Adam Smith, a Scottish economist--one of the greatest of all time,” he says.

“We’ll walk her quickly by our bust of George Washington.”