Thursday 3 May 2007

Flowers for Lord Forte

The flowers for the Memorial Mass for Lord Charles Forte reached (literally) new heights! The Cardinal celebrated Mass in a packed Cathedral, with a roll-call of guests that itself scales the summit of society:

Anne Duchess of Norfolk, the Duke of Marlborough, the Duchess of Somerset, the Earl of Gainsborough, Viscountess Hambleden, Lord Charles Churchill, Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, Lord Strathclyde, Lady Soames, Lord and Lady Powell of Bayswater, Lord and Lady Sainsbury of Preston Candover, Lord and Lady Rees-Mogg, Lord and Lady Rothschild, Lady McAlpine of West Green, Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, Lord and Lady Palumbo.

Not bad for someone who came to Britain from Italy aged three, and began his career in a milk bar in the Strand! May he rest in peace.

4 comments:

biretta wearer said...

Nice to behold a bit of conscious excess.
Do I spy unbleached candles?

John the organist said...

Yes they look unbleached. Fantastic flowers.

Anonymous said...

When my accountant grandfather was alive one of his favourite stories was how he had turned down an offer from an Italian friend who had a milkbar to become his partner in a wider venture he was planning.....

Anonymous said...

I think you rather overplay Lord Forte's origins. If you look on wikipedia one of the schools he attended was private and he started working for his father's already established chain of cafes - it's not as if he came from nothing and started working in a 'milk bar'. Good luck to him but it's not quite the way you have suggested.