And now, as a result of the donation from the Chius, locals can come in and get help for obesity, depression, loneliness and parenting, using holistic treatments and programmes.

“What the prince is doing there is remarkable,” says Christine Chiu. “He was extremely enthusiastic.”

Chiu is speaking from the chic Art Deco-style reception area of her husband’s clinic, Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery and the Anti-Aging Institute of Regenerative Medicine. She has just accompanied her son – she and her husband call him Baby G – to a sign language class.

“Studies have shown that children who are versed in sign language test higher for their IQ,” she says. Next, Baby G will take French, Mandarin and Spanish lessons. He is also exposed to Tagalog through his nannies.

“We’re hoping for a multi-lingual child,” she says. “Years ago, that used to be the norm. Sadly it no longer is.”

Being pregnant with her first child was the reason that Chiu skipped out on last July’s round of haute couture presentations in Paris, the first one she’d missed in years, and the reason she wasn’t able to wear a couture gown to the Dumfries House event.

At another dinner with Prince Charles, late last year, she had rocked a purple couture gown from Elie Saab with a plunging neckline and high slit. (For her most recent encounter, she slid into a gown from Alexandre Vauthier.)

Chiu has become one of the most coveted guests in the front rows of the Paris couture shows. Buying couture, she says, taps into her love of history and art.

“Couture is all about materials, labour, skills and talent. It’s storytelling and craftsmanship passed on down the generations. But it’s a fading art. So for me, it’s a call for preservation, an opportunity to participate. The obvious and initial attraction is all the bells and whistles. But more than being beautiful to look at and wonderful to wear, it is a fantastic conversation piece.”

She has made it a point to buy at least one item from each of the shows she attends, which usually number around 16 items per season.

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Each piece requires at least three fittings, so she concedes that just scheduling is a challenge. She talks about her love for haute couture with a giddy delight and a genuine fascination. She charts her connection with couture to her mother, who wore custom-made clothes.

“I don’t know if she was petite in frame, or if she also had an appreciation for fashion and the arts, but I think [her love of couture] implanted some images in my head. I was very interested in textiles, colours, ensembles and then I left it for a while and focused on academics. I circled back as an adult, attending my first couture show at 26,” she recalls.

That first show – Chanel – made her feel “like a kid in a candy store,” she says. “I was impulsive, I didn’t know enough, and it was about whatever garnered my attention first.

Born in Taiwan, Chiu emigrated to the US with her parents when she was seven, and grew up between San Francisco and southern California. She got her degree in international business at Pepperdine University and spent years working in the luxury beauty industry. She founded her husband’s busy clinic, while contributing to philanthropic organisations in the arts, education and health fields.

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She and her husband are currently building a new home in Malibu, California, where she will have a dedicated space just for her couture pieces, which are now in a specialised storage facility.

Naturally, she takes meticulous care of her pieces, which range from her first haute couture purchases – two pairs of Chanel boots – to a dazzlingly embellished “Pope” Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda dress that went on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Arts for its “Heavenly Bodies” exhibition about fashion and religion.

“When I started collecting haute couture, I didn’t have a strategy,” she says. “I wish I had an adviser early on, so that I could have curated every single piece to make a sustaining and well-rounded collection. When I was younger, I just bought things I liked.

“Then I bought things that looked good, before I realised that this is couture, and they can make anything look good on anyone. So I started being more strategic, wanting pieces that museums would one day be interested in displaying, or pieces that told a story of a time in history, or a perspective of a designer at that time in his or her life. It had to be more than just apparent beauty.”

She likes to be generous with her pieces; she once bought some gloves from Armani Privé that she loved so much that she bought several as Christmas presents. Another time, a friend’s wedding gown didn’t show up on time, so Chiu invited her to her couture wardrobe to pick something out. Because of her and her husband’s social schedule, she wears couture a lot, but likes the fact that she doesn’t need to tell anyone.

“What I love about couture is that unless you have a very trained eye, most people can’t tell. It’s not always obvious. It’s your own little secret. Even when I go to the park, I might be in some haute couture daytime separates and [I’ll] smile to myself knowing that I’m able, in some way, to be part of this world, and to contribute to the continuation of this craft,” she says.

And, as it turns out, her January dinner with Prince Charles yielded another prize.

“The best surprise was finding out how passionate the prince was about textiles as well,” she says. “Already at Dumfries House there is a small workshop where they are teaching the art of clothes making. I’m brainstorming how we can draw in world-renowned designers and fashion houses, to have collaborations and mentorships, and [offer]scholarships. While the prince and I were having cocktails, we were already plotting our next project.”