LIVE IN HOPE
At the time of writing, the political deadlock over Brexit seems more intractable than ever, and it feels as if a happy outcome would be nothing less than miraculous. But with miracles in mind – and I do believe that these exist, within everyday manifestations of compassion and creativity – we bring you this new issue of Harper’s Bazaar, celebrating the power of open-heartedness. Hence our portfolio of poetry, painting and prose – contributed by some of our favourite writers and artists – in praise of the kindness of strangers and the kindred spirits that come together to form a United Kingdom.
We have also been inspired by the multiculturalism of London (a city built by successive waves of new arrivals, from the Romans onwards, and as ethnically diverse 2,000 years ago as it is today), in our S/S 19 Collections story, photographed on location in this, the most diverse of fashion capitals. I’m a Londoner, born and bred, but my father’s family were Russian exiles, part of the Jewish diaspora, and my mother’s Anglo-Catholic relatives scattered across the world. History proves that Britishness is as much a state of mind as a nation state; all of which may be relevant when considering the recent retelling of the story of Mary, Queen of Scots, as a film starring Saoirse Ronan, who is featured on our cover this month. Mary was born in Scotland, brought up in France, and became a French Queen (by marriage) at the age of 16. Widowed the following year, she ascended to the Scottish throne, and married for the second time to her English first cousin, Henry Stuart (both of them were grandchildren of Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII’s sister), thereby angering another cousin, Queen Elizabeth. Confusing? Yes, particularly with the additional complications of the Protestant and Catholic factions that the two Queens represented; yet a timely reminder that the rivalries and tensions between the rulers of our island nation were just as confounding five centuries ago as nowadays.
I say this not in a mood of pessimism, but with a sanguine sense of perspective; for if today looks dark, tomorrow’s dawn will be all the more wondrous to behold.