Date and Time: Saturday, 23rd November, 2024. 11.00 to 15.30.
Venue & Parking: Palácio Veva de Lima in Lisbon (Rua Silva Carvalho 240, 1250-096 Lisboa). See here. The venue is within walking distance of the Amoreiras Shopping Centre, which has ample parking. As an alternative, a coach has been laid on from the habitual spot at the Estoril Casino (in front of ‘Jezebel’), departing at 10.30 and returning by 16.00.
Programme: Genoveva de Lima Mayer (1886-1963) was a well-off society hostess, who hosted extravagant parties, soirées, concerts and poetry recitals from 1920 to 1940. She moved to London when her husband Rui Ulrich was appointed the Portuguese Ambassador by Salazar in 1932, despite never having served in the diplomatic service. He was a renowned financier. Owing to their wealth, they were ‘ordered’ to buy and furnish a beautiful house in Belgravia (at their own expense) as the Portuguese Ambassador’s Residence, to show that Portugal was a country of standing! One day the pretender to the throne of Portugal, D. Duarte Nuno, paid them a visit and Ulrich sat him at the head of the table for dinner. Salazar was furious, and the couple were immediately called back to Lisbon (minus most of their belongings, some of which remain to this day in the Embassy). The sole consolation was that they were invited back to Britain by Queen Elizabeth II for her coronation celebrations in 1953, as Veva had got on well with both her grandmother, Queen Mary, and Winston Churchill.
The mansion was rented from the Condes de Anadia, whose palace is situated opposite (the Society has organised a weekend trip to Viseu in May ‘25, during which we will visit the stately home of the Condes de Anadia). The opulent furnishings and collection of works of art is mainly ’Retro’ /Neo-Classical and Art Deco. Cecil Beaton photographed her during his passage through Lisbon in 1942. After a tour of the house, guided by Alfredo Magalhães Ramalho, the Chair of the Associação Casa Veva de Lima, we will be served Moscatel and aperitifs before sitting down to a three-course lunch with wine and coffee or tea, during which there will be a short lecture in English on the enigmatic life of Veva de Lima Ulrich.
Price: €35 per person (€40 for guests and non-members), including the lunch. For those who want to take advantage of the coach from and to Estoril, the cost is an extra €10 per head. The menu will be:
CONFIRMATION
Please confirm your participation by email to info@bhsportugal.org by Friday 15th November.
Please provide the following information:
Name/s:
D.o.b. (for insurance purposes):
Mobile telephone number:
Whether you require places on the coach from Estoril:
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