D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A A R TSY AT T H E MO O R E B U I L D I N G I N M I A M I B E AC H
Lauren Remington Platt and Ivanka Trump
ter his introductions and brief meet-and-greets, the prince departed at 6:30 p.m. Later in the evening, there was a “private” dinner hosted by a rich American businessman who lives and works in London. It was also a fundraiser for one of the couple’s pet charities and the ticket was $50,000 per couple. This was the ultimate invitation for anyone who wanted to “meet” the royal couple—providing you could cough up the price of the ticket. It was small enough so that everyone got a chance to spend time in their presence. I was told they raised more than a million that way, and so it was a great success. 30 QUEST
Magnus Berger, Kristina O’Neill and Derek Blasberg
Hassan Pierre, Wendi Murdoch and Mark Guiducci
Again, no photographs and there was no publicity. The dinner at the Met was less intimate. There were at least 250 guests. Word was that the top price was $50,000 per table, with options for tables costing $20,000 and $10,000 at the Temple of Dendur in the Sackler Wing. These were all big prices for a fundraiser for a university. The difference between this and others was that these alums are members of the House of Windsor. The invitation requested that you be at the Met at 6:30 p.m., carrying a personal I.D. and a ticket (which had been delivered to the home of each guest the afternoon before). I
Shirley Young and Silas Chou
Susanna Buckwald and Cassandra Tighe
arrived promptly at 6:30 p.m., in my black-tie and with my camera. Guests were congregating for cocktails, anxious to see the couple. I figured they’d be the last to arrive, and they were. At about 7:10 p.m., a group of women in scarlet commencement robes helped to create a path by holding red ribbon that extending from the entrance to the gallery, around the gallery’s General Information hexagon, and to the other side of the gallery. When that happened, everyone got their cameras (read: phones) out for their Instagrams. A few minutes later, I could see the professional photog-
raphers were out on the museum’s steps with their cameras flashing. In the distance, I saw Prince William’s familiar head and countenance, although I couldn’t catch a glimpse of the duchess. I wasn’t close enough to the door and the light wasn’t very good. I tried to catch sight of them through the camera’s zoom lens, but nope. Finally, their escorts and security people came in en masse. In the middle was the couple, who passed us by moving so quickly and surrounded by others moving with them on either side. Standing no more than two feet away from them, I never
B FA NYC . CO M
Carlos Souza and Nadine Johnson