One envoy says ‘I do;’ another says ‘I don’t’
By Gail Scott
Portuguese Ambassador João de Vallera plants a deft kiss upon the hand of Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Eastern Inaugural ball at Union Station.
Diplomatic Nuptials
Saudi Arabian Ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir is a bachelor no longer! While we weren’t watching he got married to beautiful widow Farah Al-Fayez, 27, with whom he is now living (along with her six-year-old twins) in his McLean ambassadorial residence. Everything was below the radar until someone noticed that Al-Jubeir, 47, was smiling a lot more.
Another Arab ambassador who is young and quite handsome may be available again. If you were invited to the March 7 wedding, don’t worry about buying this dashing envoy a gift. The nuptials are off and no one is sure why. His staff is as shocked as the rest of us.
Inaugural Keepsakes
It’s already March, but diplomats are still trading inaugural photos of each other as if they were baseball cards. A special favorite: the one of dapper Portuguese Ambassador João de Vallera kissing the hand of not-yet-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton during the Eastern Ball at Union Station. De Vallera himself captured another “the-world-is-one-place” moment of his Jordanian colleague, Prince Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, with his red native head scarf against the gorgeous blue sky.
