•Get well soon to Bruce Taylor, a great guy who is recovering from heart surgery. Get well wishes also to Erica Bucking, who’s recuperating from extensive and painful oral surgery! I was happy to run into Kathleen Chapey, out and about, after a brief illness.

•I’m sad to report the death of Dr. Albert Treiber of Deer Park Avenue. He was a longtime resident of Babylon. He was predeceased by his first wife, Patricia. He is survived by his only child, Mary Lammens, and his second wife, Dotty; as well as three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. The wake will be at Chapey’s today from 2 to 4:30 p.m., and 7 to 9:30 p.m. A memorial service will be held at Chapey’s and internment will be at Calverton with military honors.

•Elena de Murias has returned from England and I’ll let her tell the story of her attendance at a reception with the British Royal Family:

“Theinvitation was here when we got to London. Finally, all those problems of potential international mail fraud and possibly finding our invitations being sold on E-bay were gone. The real embossed invitation was in my hand. ThePresident and Chairman of the Royal Over-Seas League request the pleasure of the company of Ms. Elena de Murias at a reception in the State Apartments of St. James Palace, London, SW1 in the gracious presence of Her Majesty TheQueen & Their Royal Highnesses TheDuke of Edinburgh & Princess Alexandra on Tuesday, 1st of June 2010 at 5:45p.m. Dress: Lounge Suit/Day Dress / National Dress.

And tucked away in the envelope with other information on parking, was another letter, an unexpected surprise. Written in bold letters was: We are pleased to announce that you have been selected to meet a member of the Royal Family. Luckily my friend and escort, Mehernosh M. Motashaw (Manny) got the same invitation. How exciting was that!

Tuesday morning was chaotic. The dress was mangled in flight; my nails were a mess...but thankfully there was a team of wonderful friends to put me back together following the instructions carefully prepared by Constantine of Elizabeth Arden. By three o’clock, we were ready. Manny was in a gray double breasted suit (lounge suit) and I wore beige with pearls. The highly polished black Rolls Royce Camargue pulled up and we were off to meet the Queen.

The weather was terrible. It was everything I remembered about London weather…. rain, rain and then rain with wind. It was miserable. The car dropped us off at the Royal Overseas Club where many of the invitees gathered in the Lobby for what should have been a quick walk down to St. James Palace. Instead all of us were donning raingear (I had my yellow sailing slicker) and umbrellas for what would be a very wet walk. But, we were not unhappy. Even in the rain, how many times would any one of us have this opportunity? We met invitees from all over the world… Australia, New Zealand, countries in Asia, Africa and a few from the United States. Sharing umbrellas and stories, we all walked in a group to the Palace.

The Palace was beautiful. And, the staff was so efficient and nice. No one would ever have known everyone was wet. We checked our raingear and immediately were escorted to our assigned room to wait for the Royals. Manny and I were assigned to the Entrée Room, a large room with enormous portraits in elaborate gold frames of past kings and historical figures in British History including Lord Nelson and George IV. The wallpaper was flocked green velveteen and the carpet a beautiful oriental. Our hosts introduced us to our group of ten who were “to meet a Royal”, in our case Prince Phillip. Mr. Ralph Bauer, the leader, practiced our names and certain pieces of information so each introduction was individual and personal.

Then the doors opened. And in walked Queen Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip. She was beautiful, wearing a two piece suit of black, white and yellow; black patent leather Feragamo low heels, black gloves and carrying a black patent leather purse. TheDuke wore a gray suit. It is protocol for the Queen to enter before her husband so all of us watched while she was introduced to her first set of 10. When she had moved on to the second group, Prince Philip was ushered in to his first group of ten. We were the fifthgroup so we watched as the Queen and Duke moved from one group to the next and marveled at their ease and grace. They shook hands with each person and stood around chatting. And then it was our turn. Prince Philip was introduced to each of us and was curious about where I came from in TheUnited States and how I had become a member of the Royal Overseas Club. But it was Manny who really stole the show. The Duke was somewhat interested in his London/New York connection. But, he came to life when Manny said he was originally from Bombay, India, now called Mumbai. He wanted to know all about his family, what year they had left for England, and why. Manny understood his interest and later reminded me that The Duke’s uncle, Lord Mountbatten had been the last Viceroy of India. Fascinating! Princess Alexandra moved freely through the room speaking with everyone without a formal introduction. Dressed in a two piece blue/gray and white knitted suit, she was delightful.

Once the Queen, Prince Philip and Princess Alexandra moved on to the next room, we were free to roam through the Palace. Sipping glasses of champagne and eating delicious passed canapés, we explored the beautiful rooms introducing ourselves to the other fascinating attendees. There was the Tapestry Room; The Council Chamber, where the Queen meets with the Prime Minister and his Cabinet and others… each more elegant that the last. My favorite was the Throne Room where the Queen receives the credentials of new ambassadors and other foreign dignitaries to TheCourt of St. James. Thethrone where she sits is canopied in maroon brocade with the Shield of the House of Windsor behind her. After seeing her minutes before, it was easy for us to imagine her in her ceremonial robes on the throne welcoming each new dignitary.

And then the party ended. Once back out in the rain, it was hard to imagine that we had had such a magical experience... probably not to be repeated!”