the buccaneers; William Norwich heads to England to conspire with a cadre of chic Americans storming the battlements of British society.

Byline: William Norwich

Social life, as is its wont, shifted focus to London earlier this summer. Like some kind of status satchel on a Virgin Airlines Upper Class conveyor belt, "Hi, society" went round and round London town until it packed off for assorted islands and the sun of August.

There was the horse racing at Ascot, of course; tiara-boom dinners at Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, and Blenheim Palace; a children's picnic at Winfield House; and, for the more adventurous-such as Kate Moss, Tracey Emin, Sadie Frost, Sienna Miller, and approximately 120,000 ecstatic others-there was hippie-shaking galore at Glastonbury music festival, just to name a few glittering attractions of the so-called season.

Because of the expanding American colony in London, the United States was well represented. In fact, considering the number of young Americans who have set up house in London, it seems Park Avenue now ends in Eaton Square.

Among the Americans there are Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, Tom Ford, Tim Burton, and David Sedaris. (Sedaris moved first to Paris in pursuit of lax smoking laws but found the language, hence the gathering of amusing material, a problem.) All three celebrated Miller sisters reside in London now: Marie-Chantal of Greece, Pia Getty (who recently reconciled with her husband, Christopher Getty, and gave one of the big dinners of the London season in July), and the youngest, Alexandra von Furstenberg. At this writing, Alexandra was on again or even closer with the art dealer Tim Jefferies, her constant companion since her move to London and the conclusion of her marriage to Alexandre von Furstenberg.

Add to the star-spangled flock Cosima von Bulow Pavoncelli, Brooke de Ocampo (a director for the Norman Foster-designed Albion gallery), Karen Groos, Vanity Fair's Elizabeth Saltzman Walker, fashion editor Kim Hersov, singer Laura Comfort, and, a la Mona Lisa Smile, a small circle of Wellesley College graduates including Carol Guardey, Nicole Hambro, and the jewelry designer Catherine Prevost. Most recently, according to New York social sources, Lillian Wang von Stauffenberg was debating moving to London. The writer Ashley Brittingham McDermott, meanwhile, will definitely relocate with her family this fall.

"It is just a softer experience to be here as a parent," said Brooke de Ocampo, mother of four, at her town house near Eaton Square. "London is so much less isolated politically and culturally than America these days. It is much more interesting for us. My daughters go to school with children from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, France. The other day one of my five-year-old twins came home and asked me, 'Mommy, what is the difference between the Hindu god and our god?' "