Jojar S Dhinsa pictured with The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.

The event marks the launch of the charity’s ‘Multi-fund’ scheme, the brain child of the charity who worked with Oxford University’s Dr. Paul Jepson. Over quarter of a million pounds is expected to be raised on the night and guests include Mick Jagger, Jools Holland, Richard Gere, Richard E Grant, Annie Lennox and Indian Royalty. The event has been made possible through the generous sponsorship and support of Jojar S. Dhinsa of the Athlone Group and The Amit and Vanisha Bhatia Foundation.

‘The Elephant Durbar’ event will take place in the beautiful surroundings of Petersham House, Petersham, on 27th June 2006. A durbar is a state reception formerly given by an Indian prince for a British Sovereign. Although the event has all the elegance of a princely court, elephant family took an unprecedented decision to ensure that the event’s printed materials were produced on elephant dung paper, pulped to perfection in Sri Lanka.

In 100 years, the number of wild Asian elephants has plummeted from 225,000 to just 35,000 with 66% of the losses occurring in the last 25 years. All funds from this unique event will go towards securing a safer future for these beautiful and intelligent animals – giant and gentle custodians of the last remaining Asian forests.

Goldie Hawn, a patron of the Elephant Family commented: ‘Asian elephants have always held a special place in my heart and I am deeply concerned about their future. Elephant family's multi-fund is the way to go. It's easy, transparent and your money cannot be better invested. That's why I'm a Patron of elephant family’.

Set amongst summer meadows and walled gardens the quintessentially English surroundings of Petersham house will explode into a riot of Indian colour, sound and fragrance. From the minute guests enter the grounds, they will be treated to performances by world famous Indian musicians and dancers including Anoushka Shanker; an exotic vegetarian banquet by award winning chefs and a money-can’t buy auction hosted by Sotheby’s Chairman, Henry Wyndham

Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, a patron of elephant family, commented: “Having supported this organization from the very start, it is great to be part this event where we have the attention of people of influence who can make a difference. I hope that the Multi-fund will appeal to financially-astute investors accustomed to this style of portfolio investment. Elephant family will be acting in a similar way to an investment house and the elephant conservation projects will be analogous to specialist funds within their portfolio.”

Elephant family is the only conservation charity dedicated solely to saving the endangered Asian elephant. The charity’s patrons are Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, Sir George Martin, Goldie Hawn and the Rajmata of Jaipur.