Town & Country UK Summer 2021

Perhaps it’s a universal desire, or perhaps it was Noel Streatfeild’s Circus Shoes that did it, but for about a year of my childhood, I planned quite seriously to run away to join the circus. Having no gymnastic ability whatsoever, and being afraid of heights, I knew that my only hope was to be taken on as an animal trainer. So the long-suffering Labrador was put through intensive coaching, until he could leap a course of hurdles at a word of command without dislodging his teddy-bear jockey. We never got our big break, alas, but the sawdust has not quite left my veins. It is in that spirit that I now invite you to roll up, roll up, ladies and gentlemen, and take your seats for the greatest show on…

THE DUCHESS OF RUTLAND Before she married into the aristocracy, Emma Manners came from solid Welsh farming stock, and she draws on her practical upbringing in her current role as the chatelaine of Belvoir Castle. She shares the day-to-day realities of running an ancestral seat on her podcast Duchess and makes the ultimate decision – Town or Country? – on page 130. A circus trick you wish you could do ‘The high wire, where you get to swing around the rope, like one of those amazing dancing girls. I’d love to be able to do that.’ Where is the most romantic place you’ve ever been? ‘The Maldives.’ What would you do as Queen for the day? ‘I’d like to go stalking up in Scotland.’ LADY KITTY SPENCER Our cover star is the daughter…

PRINCEGEORGE’S BIRTHDAY Ensure many happy returns with practical shorts and playful dresses Prince George’s eighth-birthday party is sure to be a lively affair, so classic but comfortable attire is called for. Smart stripy shorts worn with loafers and a crisp white shirt are de rigueur for any little prince, while their sisters will enchant in pastel-coloured party frocks and Mary-Janes. Presents should aim to please the parents too – eschew garish electronics and opt for a set of stylish Liberty skittles or a Tiffany teddy bear. LYDIA SLATER THE DUCHESS OF SUSSEX’S BABYSHOWER Welcome the newborn in cosseting pinks Dressing up for arguably the most exclusive event of 2021 – Serena Williams co-hosted the last one – demands serious thought. Dior’s blush-pink gown is both exquisitely elegant and a graceful nod to the baby-to-be’s gender.…

The Museum of the Home – which counts Matilda Goad, Luke Edward Hall and Zandra Rhodes as ambassadors – will draw on lockdown life as well as on issues including homelessness and mental health in a series of new commissions and exhibitions this summer. Following an £18 million renovation that has doubled its galleries, which already contained impressive century-by-century room sets, the Grade I-listed east-London museum is reopening with a photography display titled ‘Holding the Baby’, exploring the realities of single parenthood, and the movie Shelf Life, made by the Hackney-based, Iranian-born film-maker Mina Salimi, which offers insight to local homes and the meaningful objects within them. ‘Personal stories are at the heart of what we do,’ says the museum’s director Sonia Solicari. ‘We want visitors to experience a feeling…

In early 1959, the gas-lit streets of Beacon Hill in Boston were teeming with poets. Two of the best-known, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, met for the first time in a writing workshop held at Boston University. After class, they would drive to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel to end the afternoon drinking three extra-dry martinis. Sexton would park her old Ford in a loading-only zone, yelling: ‘It’s okay, because we are only going to get loaded!’ Then, with their books and papers, the pair would sit in the hushed, velvet bar of the Ritz drinking cocktails and eating dish after dish of free crisps. Their talk was about writing, life, death. This collision of worlds was brief, a matter of months, but it was intense, and led to a lifelong friendship…