LOS ANGELES -- The ballroom at the Casa del Mar in Santa Monica, California, was packed with guests in evening gowns and tuxedos, black-suited security guards and a scrum of photographers. The smell of coconut and sticky-rice pudding filled the air as the guests sipped champagne and waited for royalty to arrive.
To the flash of cameras, Thailand's Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Barnavadi made her way gracefully down the red carpet, clad in a black chiffon dress and diamond earrings. Her Royal Highness was there to pitch Thailand's film business -- and by extension its tourism industry, the lifeblood of the kingdom's economy.
