Flashback: That glittery night then-Prince Charles helped open a Kansas City landmark
On a festive Friday night in September 2011, the man now known as King Charles III helped usher in a new era for the arts in Kansas City. It was a bit of a shock for the nearly 2,000 people who witnessed it.
On that night, a gala was held to open the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, the new home of the the Kansas City Symphony, Kansas City Ballet and Lyric Opera of Kansas City.
After cocktails and oohing over the shell-shaped building with a glass atrium offering a million-dollar view of the city, the guests assembled in the Muriel Kauffman Theatre, one of two performance halls.
They were the first guests to sit in those plush red seats inside a theater inspired by grand opera houses of Europe.
The woman of the night was Julia Irene Kauffman.
The Kansas City busineswoman and philanthropist is the daughter of the late Ewing Kauffman, the founder of the Kansas City Royals, and Muriel Kauffman, the mastermind behind the Kauffman Center. Julia Kauffman carries on her mother’s work supporting the city’s arts as chairman and CEO of the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation.
The night of the gala, Julia Kauffman walked on stage to greet her guests, glowing under the lights in a sequined silver dress and diamonds around her neck. But first, she had a surprise from across the pond.
A giant video screen descended over the stage and the face of then-Prince Charles appeared, larger than life.
A benefactor of the arts and a fan of architecture, the royal delivered a taped greeting, noting that “the arts are a hallmark of our humanity,” he said. “The performing arts are thriving in Kansas City.”
The moment was unexpected and inexplicable. Gasps and giggles could be heard from the audience.
Prince Charles? In Kansas City?
What’s become known in the years since, largely through the British media, is Kauffman’s status as a kindred spirit of the king.
She has been named in news articles as one of many “generous benefactors” of his projects, including work on the Castle of Mey, the beloved Scottish home of the late Queen Mother, a majestic building with fairy-tale turrets and towers, according to The Herald, a Glasgow newspaper.
King Charles is said to stay at the castle every August in memory of his grandmother.
In January 2021, The Herald named Kauffman as one of the donors who helped fund a 10-bedroom bed-and-breakfast on the grounds. The newspaper described her as “American philanthropist Julia Irene Kauffman — the daughter of the late pharmaceutical magnate Ewing Kauffman.”
This weekend that relationship bears rather lofty fruit: Kauffman was set to witness history firsthand.
“I am in London to attend the coronation,” she told The Star this past week, describing the king as “a wonderful, generous person” who will “be a caring, excellent monarch.”
The final guest list wound up at more than 2,200 people, including British royals, assorted European kings and queens and about 100 heads of state. About 400 young people representing charitable organizations will watch from the church next door.
