Palm Beach Society: Restoration of 400-year-old English castle gets boost from friends

Did some Palm Beach official declare February to be "Duchess Month" and then forget to tell us about it?

First it was Fergie, the Duchess of York, in town to raise money for a cancer charity.

Now it's Emma, the Duchess of Rutland, in town to raise money for Belvoir Castle, the ancestral seat of her husband's family.

The inaugural Palm Beach dinner dance of the American Friends of Belvoir Castle (AFOBC) took place Feb. 10 at The Breakers.

More Palm Beach society news here.

James Borynack and David Newton were chairmen for the sold-out event, which raised more than $1 million.

Yep, sold out. First event. Million bucks. Just like we've always said: "Snag a title and they will come."

OK, we've never actually said that, but secretly we've always believed it.

The festivities, in the presence of David Manners the Duke of Rutland, his Duchess Emma, and the five Manners progeny, began in the Mediterranean Ballroom with cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, and music by a quartet from the Palm Beach Symphony.

After cocktails, the Palm Beach Pipes and Drums led the way to dinner in the Venetian Ballroom, which was decorated in homage to Belvoir Castle with hand-painted de Gournay wallpaper panels that replicated historic castle wallcoverings, and Charles Neal’s paintings of the castle, suits of armor and the castle’s signature peacocks.

The night continued with dinner, dessert and dancing to the music of Doug Verga.

Sean and Lilly Ferreira were junior chairman and junior chairwoman. Dominic Evans-Freke of deGournay was design chairman.

More than 400 people attended.

Funds raised through the American Friends of Belvoir Castle and the Gala will support four specific projects: Conserving and restoring the 18th-century Chinese wallpaper hanging in four of the state bedrooms, expert restoration of a large Wilton and Axminster carpet in the Regents Gallery; funding to clear the Memorial Lakes to complete the plans created more than 250 years ago by the renowned landscape architect Capability Brown, and sponsoring an American student to attend Harlaxton University in cooperation with the University of Evansville in the United States as part of a master’s program in heritage management with an internship at Belvoir Castle.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Restoration of 400-year-old English castle gets boost in Palm Beach