Ivana Trump Remembered

On a personal note, I remember Ivana Trump, a friend of many years and a former Upper Eastside neighbor, when I lived in Manhattan.

Ivana, who died at her East 64th Street townhouse, opposite the home of the late Italian designer Gianni Versace, at the age of 73 was a partner at many social events, as well as frequent lunches and dinners at social watering holes like La Goulue, Le Relais, and Le Bilboquet, as well as visits to Royal Ascot and parties at her London home in Cadogan Square.

I was also a guest at her multimillion-dollar wedding to Italian model Rossano Rubicondi at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, in 2008, which I reported on in my column in the Santa Barbara News-Press at the time.

From 1997 until his untimely death in Tuscany in 2005, she dated an old friend Count Roffredo Gaetani, a good friend of Fiat tycoon Gianni Agnelli. She also made a lucrative career as an author, and jewelry and clothing designer, selling her wares on TV cable network shopping channels.

I particularly remember lunch on the terrace at the East 63rd Street Eurofluff eatery, Bilboquet, when the United Nations was meeting and the block was socially gridlocked with giant SUVs and earpiece-wearing security personnel.

King Abdullah of Jordan and his wife Queen Rania were on the street opposite, having just had lunch at the carnivore’s paradise, The Post House, when she recognized Ivana and came over to our table.

Abdullah was patiently waiting for his wife to finish, but eventually in exasperation came over and introduced himself before the royal duo eventually got in their vehicles and sped off many minutes late.

Only in New York…