ENGLAND PART 3--THE SHOWS AND THE PARTIES

HIGHGROVE, PRINCE CHARLES' COUNTRY HOME

The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Foundation was established by The Prince of Wales in 1979. The Foundation operates primarily as a grant making trust and aims to use income raised from its trading subsidiaries to support charitable causes and make a strategic impact for good.
The Foundation has funded initiatives in the following diverse areas: International Sustainability; Education and Young People; The Built Environment; Responsible Business; Conservation; Armed Forces Welfare; Emergency Relief and Community Projects.

The team at Highgrove work with skilled craftspeople to create unique products for the home and garden. All profits from the sale of Highgrove products are paid to The Prince of Wales's Charitable Foundation.

The Prince's Charities are a group of independent not-for-profit organizations of which The Prince of Wales is President. He has carried out hundreds of engagements in support of these charitable enterprises, and together they now turn over more than £110 million per annum. The group is the largest multi-cause charitable enterprise in the United Kingdom.
The charitable organizations are active across a broad range of areas including the Built Environment, Responsible Business and Enterprise and Young People and Education. Additionally a number of social enterprises make a significant contribution by donating all of their profits to The Prince of Wales's Charitable Foundation. The charities reflect The Prince of Wales's values of harmony and sustainability and seek to address areas of previously unmet need. For further information on The Prince of Wales's Charitable Foundation, please visit www.princeofwales.gov.uk
The team at Highgrove Enterprises manages the shops at Highgrove, Tetbury, Bath and the online shop.

A sample of the Prince's products. He makes great cookies!!!

A close-up of Aspinal of London's wooden box of Christmas Ornaments that made its way into the Highgrove picture above.

GAIL SACKLOFF, O.B.E, was awarded an O.B.E. by the Queen for her extensive service and enhancement of the UK by her talents in fashion. An executive of Saks Fifth Avenue in London, as well as other prestigious companies, one of Gail's specialties was bringing unknown designers to the fore in the UK. She discovered Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney, and was the first person to bring them to the attention of the fashion industry. In fact, it was Gail, to whom Prince Charles turned to market his Highgrove products.

Gail holding her O.B.E.

Gail held a magnificent open house in my honor at her place right on the bank of the Thames. It was such a thoughtful gesture, and I met fabulous people. Everyone stayed for hours. THANK YOU, GAIL!!!!

Karl Dunkley, director of Highgrove Enterprises and owner of Grosvenor Shirts on Jermyn St. with Juan Credidio, executive director and designer of Grosvenor Shirts

Dids Macdonald, a former interior designer who founded and owns the website ACID, a company that preserves designers' copyrights, and Lorcan Mullany, fashion designer

Ellen Weston, Mark Aldridge, group marketing director of the Jacques Vert Fashion Group, and Leon, travel agent to the VIPs

Gail with her friends Diane and Brenda

A feast of everything you could ever want

Lorcan with David Sassoon, retired fashion designer who dressed all the Royals, including Diana, and many movie stars. You should see his hardcover design book!

An original Kim Novak painting hangs in Gail's living room.


















OTHER ADVENTURES:

When in London, theatre is THE thing. I LOVED, "Strangers on a Train." This show was taken from the Patricia Highsmith book, not the Hitchcocl movie, although if you look carefully at the production you'll see "in" jokes like a character dressed in Kim Novak's gray suit from "Vertigo." This play is standing room only. It was directed by Robert Allan Ackerman, and his direction and design are brilliant. It's a lot of black and white, old film clips, a moving train...the audience screams and gasps and cheers. Wow!

Lunch at the Ritz

The Gielgud Theatre where "Strangers" is playing.

Andrew Lloyd Webbers' new musical is another matter. It is a big BOMB in London. Too bad, because the cast is wonderful. It's a musical based on the Christine Keeler-John Profumo-Stephen Ward-Mandy-Rice-Davies Scandal.
The Theatre was only 1/3 full downstairs, with no one in the balcony. The embarrassed ushers asked all of us to move down to the orchestra. What a shame, but the music it totally forgettable. What is going on with ALW?

Last but NEVER least, God Bless Virgin Atlantic for the best lounge and best first class pods. Loved it.