The Crowd:

It was a royal luncheon at the Balboa Bay Club & Resort.

Archduke Dr. Géza von Habsburg, grandson of King Frederick Augustus III, of Saxony and great-great grandson of Emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria arrived in Newport Beach at the invitation of Mona Lee Nesseth, representing the Fashionable Women of Chapman University.

Von Habsburg, an international authority on the work of Fabergé, addressed a gathering of local citizens who came together for lunch and shared in a magical lesson in 19th and 20th century Russian and greater European history.

Born in Budapest in 1940, Von Habsburg has devoted his career to curatorial work and worldwide exhibitions working with such well-known organizations as Christie, Manson & Woods as chairman of the Swiss-based fine art and auction company.

He also established his own art auction company known as Habsburg Fine Art International. Presently the archduke is a prominent lecturer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

In 1994, he joined the Fabergé Co. as a consultant and has authored multiple books and numerous articles on the creations of the Russian artisan and jewelry designer Fabergé.

Needless to say, he mesmerized the crowd of some 100 distinguished local guests. The gathering of mostly women were silent throughout the lecture, which included a large-screen PowerPoint presentation displaying visuals of the art of Fabergé and the historical figures of Russia and other houses of Europe ruling the continent in the late 19th century and early 20th century prior to the Bolshevik Revolution.

There were very few questions from the audience as they focused their attention on the fascinating facts being shared, with one exception. Von Habsburg was relating an anecdote concerning a piece of Fabergé art that was commissioned by the late Tsarina Alexandra as a gift for her husband, Tsar Nicholas.

The inscription on the item was engraved in English, and was seen by the crowd as Von Habsburg entered the picture on the massive video screen above his lectern.

It was as if the entire room had the same thought at the same moment, when one woman raised her hand and asked, “Why is the inscription written in English and not Russian?”

To which Von Habsburg replied, “Alexandra spoke very poor Russian and preferred to speak and write in English, which was at the time a more accepted form of communication among the royals in Europe with ties to the preeminent English monarchy of which Alexandra was a descendant.”

What made Von Habsburg’s address far more interesting was his incorporation of political history as it related to the artistry of Fabergé, whom he referred to as “one of the greatest if not the greatest jeweler of his time.”

Von Habsburg continued, “Fabergé and his staff created 1.5 million pieces of art and jewelry during the span of their career and not one of them was a duplication. Each and every piece is one of a kind. This is an incredible accomplishment, hard to imagine today.”

He went on to share that most of the Fabergé jewelry has been lost, broken up for its gemstones and sold during the very difficult times following the Russian Revolution during the early part of the 20th century.

Even so, Fabergé apparently did not consider himself a jeweler so much as an artisan, although his jewelry creations were unique and spectacular. He did consider his contemporaries, including such familiar names as Cartier and Tiffany as more merchants than creators and he did not like to be compared to his competition.

Concluding his lecture Von Habsburg detailed the final days of the Romanov Empire including the assassination of Grigory Rasputin at the hands of Felix Yusupov, the scion of one of Russia’s most powerful and wealthy families.

The luncheon at the Balboa Bay Club was overseen by Fashionable’s President Charlene Prager in association with Donna Bunce, Donna Bianchi and Donna Calvert.

The triad of “Donnas” planned an elegant afternoon.

Spotted in the crowd were Betty Moss, Sue Hook, Leslie Cancellieri, Adrienne Brennan, Pat Allen, Zee Allred, Carol Lee and Loretta Haugen.

Also front and center were Judy Threshie, Gayle Widyolar, Irene Mathews, Fran Cashen, Jody Olsen, Anne Manassero, and special VIP guests John-Peter Hayden Jr. and David J. Fandetta, two of America’s most prominent rare book dealers.

THE CROWD runs Thursdays and Saturdays.