BritWeek opening features royal theme

Sir Ben Kingsley arrives at the champagne launch of the fifth annual BritWeek in Los Angeles, Tuesday, April 26, 2011. Britweek honors the influences the British have had on Southern California. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles)

It was pure chance that the Los Angeles-based organizers of the annual BritWeek extravaganza hit on the same week that a little wedding happened in England this year. As British Consul General Dame Barbara Day said with a giggle, "We couldn't have been luckier to have the royal wedding drop right into the middle of BritWeek!" Noting that happy coincidence, she welcomed the garden-party crowd to the champagne launch of the two-week celebration/marketing campaign that spotlights the influence that the British have in Southern California.

So the kickoff party had a royal theme, with two Bruce Oldham wedding-dress creations the first thing guests saw as they entered the British consul's residence in Hancock Park on Tuesday, at the launch of an extravaganza of events that go on until May 11. From direct descendants of the queen, like Lord Freddie Windsor, to more newly minted members of the peerage like Sir Ben Kingsley, everyone in L.A. who is British (or who simply loves that posh accent) made the scene.

Brits like Eric Idle rubbed shoulders with Julian Sands, Michael York and Jeff Lynne, while Julia Ormond and Jacqueline Bisset chatted up pink-haired fashion designer Zandra Rhodes and stylist George Blodwell. And Americans who love the Brits flocked to the fete, too, from Doris Roberts and Patricia Heaton to Skeet Ulrich and Fred Willard.

Even L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa stopped in, and jokingly asked, "How many of you are going to be watching

the royal wedding live at three o'clock in the morning on Friday?" Amid much laughter and shouts of "We're Tivo-ing it," only a few British die-hards actually raised their hands. Seems even the royal wedding cannot shake those transplanted Angelenos out of their beds at 3 a.m.!

Giuliana DePandi Gina Philips Paula Garcés Maria Sharapova Kim Kardashian