POLLYWOOD | DIPLOMATIC DANCE
Spring Breaks One envoy says ‘I do;’ another says ‘I don’t’ BY GAIL SCOTT
DIPLOMATIC NUPTIALS Saudi Arabian Ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir is a bachelor no longer! While we weren’t watching he got married to beautiful widow Farah Al-Fayez, 27, with whom he is now living (along with her six-year-old twins) in his McLean ambassadorial residence. Everything was below the radar until someone noticed that Al-Jubeir, 47, was smiling a lot more. Another Arab ambassador who is young and quite handsome may be available again. If you were invited to the March 7 wedding, don’t worry about buying this dashing envoy a gift. The nuptials are off and no one is sure why. His staff is as shocked as the rest of us.
moment of his Jordanian colleague, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, with his red native head scarf against the gorgeous blue sky.
BOLSHOI VS. “ROCKET MAN” Only the Washington Ballet’s Septime Webre could have the creative nerve to pull off the Jeté Society’s hot Dance Party at the Russian Embassy. But he had a little help from Russian cultural counselor Natalia Batova, who once dreamt of being a ballerina.When she was 9, her family was living in Riga when Bolshoi scouts came to town and chose her to study with the world-famous Russian ballet company. But her father, “a big Russian general,” said “Nyet!” and that was the end of her budding career. “I still envy every ballerina in the world,” she told the INAUGURAL KEEPSAKES It’s already March, but diplomats are still crowd of 800 supporters who filled the embassy’s trading inaugural photos of each other as if ballroom until midnight. “We have never had anything like this they were baseball cards. A special favorite: the one of dapper Portuguese Ambassador João de before at the embassy,” Batova shouted while Vallera kissing the hand of not-yet-Secretary commenting about the loud music, bright stage of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during the lights and glittery attire. “This is really lively!” Eastern Ball at Union Station. De Vallera himself Finally, when Natalia Kislyak, the ambassador’s captured another “the-world-is-one-place” shy wife, arrived – alone and midway through the festivities – she quickly retreated to a corner of the aqua-silk-curtained side room and just smiled.
Portuguese Ambassador João de Vallera plants a deft kiss upon the hand of Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Eastern Inaugural ball at Union Station.
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DIPLOMATIC SING-ALONG Talk about performance art, this year’s Washington Concert Opera benefit at the Embassy of Monoco’s Kalorama residence was anything but boring. Chairwoman Bobbie Brewster and Monaco’s Ellen Noghès decided to make the otherwise proper cocktail party a sing-along … of operatic favorites: “O Sole Mio” in Italian and “Toreador” in French. Artistic director Antony Walker guided the tempo and soprano Lisa Eden hit the high notes, but one special guest also helped out: former attorney Ellen Taylor Sisson, now a
Liechtenstein Ambassador Claudia Fritsche greets Turkish Ambassador Nabi Sensoy and his wife Gülgün at the official opening of her new embassy and residence. (Photos by Gail Scott)
professional singer. Once Prince Albert’s boss when he interned at her old New York law office, she even sang the principality’s national anthem at the embassy’s opening. “The prince was surprised to see his old boss singing,” she said, “especially in Monegasque.”
A 4,000-YEAR-OLD RELATIONSHIP Departing Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen and his wife Kalpana jumped at the chance to host Aschiana’s Kite Gala to help educate and feed the working street children of Kabul. “After all,” Ambassador Sen said, “Afghans and Indians have had a relationship for over 4,000 years. We have deep links of friendship … India has built $1.2 billion of roads and power for Afghanistan …We have a very big stake in their stability and emergence as a moderate, democratic nation.” MOVING ON Financially strapped Iceland has put its residence at 2443 Kalorama Road NW up for sale for $5.65 million … The ambassador of Cyprus is looking for new rental digs while his Kalorama residence is being renovated … Bahrain’s envoy is preparing to move into town from the Maryland woods … Finally, there is Liechtenstein’s shiny new river view embassy-cum-residence duplex at Washington Harbour, which will be perfect for watching the fireworks on the Fourth!
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