Family Affairs and other matters

What an amazing evening we all had last night. Anna’s new collection is truly beautiful. Her clothes were elegant, understated and as exquisitely cut as ever. The event was held in the Royal Courts of Justice – the long corridors had been lit by hundred’s of church candles which lent a wonderful atmosphere and light to the already beautiful building. The fashion show itself was woven in amongst 400 diners and the tables, food and overall impression was really very impressive. SUCH a lot of hard work went in to the event by so many people.

I was in my element. My gorgeous new (I so love her now) sister-in-law drove over to see me to do my hair and make-up an hour before I had to leave because I was panicking. She put my hair into a chignon and did very grown-up make-up for me. I was wearing Anna’s beautiful tulip dress and a necklace of her’s too. My shoes let the side down because they were the only thing that were provided by myself. Nevermind. ANYWAY, the really big news was that I and a friend got to meet HRH Duchess of Cornwall AND have a chat with Rupert Everett and Janet Ellis who were both hosting the event.

It was one of those evenings for me that all came together somehow in a magical way. Friends generously bought tickets, dressed up, looked gorgeous and came with me to support an amazing charity. They didn’t even complain about my seating plan (well the only one that did was the friend I’d put next to me!). On Monday, when I visited the friend who is going through yet another round of chemotherapy we thought there was no hope in hell of getting her to the event – even if I had offered to carry her. She was feeling so ill. Couldn’t move, couldn’t eat or even drink. Things improved very slowly over the next few days and by Thursday morning she made the decision to give it a go. I had been invited to meet the Duchess and to take one person with me. This was meant to be for the wonderful woman who had offered such an amazing holiday prize in the Seychelles, but there was no way I could miss the opportunity to get my friend to meet her and to talk about the Maggie’s Centres and how they had helped her with dealing with her cancer. In anticipation of our meeting I had to Google “How To Curtsey”. I think I managed to put my right leg behind my left and bend both knees with a straight back without falling over, but can’t quite remember. I was so worried about how to address her, I thought I might accidentally say “Happy Birthday” instead of “lovely to meet you your Royal Highness”. We talked to her for a couple of minutes, all about her treatment and I managed to mention that I was the proud owner of Anna Valentine’s first ever wedding dress. Because my friend manage to make it and because the speeches, both by Rupert and Janet revolved around cancer and how the charity was making a difference, it was a profoundly moving experience all round.

We then went on to chat with Rupert Everett where I proceeded to make a complete tit of myself. He was looking tall and gorgeous in a lovely suit with a black tie. I asked him whether he was going to be wearing that during the speech or whether he was planning to change into some women’s clothes (with reference to his role in St Trinian’s). He was so unamused that instead of moving swiftly on I said “well, clearly because you find it so unfunny, you are really secretly going to be changing any minute…”. when he still didn’t laugh I said “only joking” and in an effort to get rid of me he then had to pretend it was because he was deaf and couldn’t hear a word I was saying. Oh dear.

I believe that the evening raised in excess of £120,000 for Maggie’s Cancer Charity Centres which is a phenomenal amount of money. The holiday in the Seychelles went for £22,000 and even a little old hour of my time doing my stretching and strengthening thing went for over £500.

ANYWAY. These are not my photos, but I’ve been given permission to show them anyway:-

I of course got a bit over-excited and drank too much champagne. I have told Anna that I have accidentally lost her dress – that it fell off somewhere between leaving the building and getting home. I can’t give it back to her. It’s just too lovely. I have never had so many compliments on how I looked. I SIMPLY HAVE TO KEEP IT. Maybe she’ll forget that I’ve got it. Fingers crossed.