Jewels’ Gold

Jeremy Norris and Paco Buxton, owners of the upper village bling emporium Tresor, have quite a majestic display in their window.

The 50-year-old Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry, which formerly belonged to the countess Raine Spencer, stepmother of the late Princess Diana, was bought from a dealer in Geneva, Switzerland, and consists of an impressive suite of a necklace, bracelet, earrings, and a ring of 18-karat yellow gold and seven blue sapphires weighting 70 carats and 25.32 carats of diamonds.

I met Raine, who was formerly Countess of Dartmouth, many times and I knew her son, William Lewisham, now the current Earl of Dartmouth, when he worked for a publishing company in Manhattan.

I also interviewed her romantic novelist mother, Dame Barbara Cartland, at her English estate – formerly owned by children’s writer and illustrator Beatrix Potter – when I was an anchor on the CSB syndicated show Day & Date. Raine, a total courtesan, died last year at the age of 87.

The jewelry is being sold for $185,000.

Toda Raba

Montecito’s newest celebrity, actress Natalie Portman, is the first female recipient of Israel’s Genesis Prize in recognition of her commitment to social causes and deep commitment to Jewish and Israeli roots.

The $1 million award, known as the Jewish Nobel Prize, is granted annually to a person recognized as an inspiration to the new generation of the Jewish people.

“I am proud of my Israeli roots and Jewish heritage,” says Natalie. “They are crucial points of who I am.”

She won an Oscar in 2011 for Black Swan and in 2015 directed and starred in Tale of Love and Darkness, a Hebrew language film made in Israel based on an Amos Oz novel.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to present her with the prize at a ceremony in Jerusalem in June.

Previous winners of the award, set up in 2014, include former Montecito resident Michael Douglas, violinist Itzhak Perlman, and former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.