T
Written By
Christopher Hyland
he Prince of Wales lingered over
my suggestion to him that he turn his attention to
architecture, championing a broad examination of the
aesthetic conundrum we had reached, by the time of
our conversation, the early 1980s. I spoke with him in
the upstairs long gallery of the great Tudor house, Sutton
Place, in Surrey, England, a rather inspiring setting. My
father, who was at my side, always encouraged me
to speak ideas to power. The Prince could very well
have been giving the matter great thought already, but
certainly he appeared galvanized at the juncture of our
conversation.
That evening I would also have an interesting conversation
with Armand Hammer, the American entrepreneur,
collector and occasional bridge between the thenCommunist world and the West. Hammer knew my
brother, Douglas, a museum director. Hammer and I were
on the committee that night for a dinner dance supporting
United World Colleges, the Prince's and Hammer's
charity promoting community and education among the
young people of the world. The event raised funds for
their campus in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Hammer and
the Prince had become very close; the latter's mentor,
Lord Mountbatten had been assassinated in 1979.
HYLAND
