On the morning of 25 April 2026, Stratford-upon-Avon does what it has been doing every April since the eighteenth century: it becomes, briefly and completely, the literary capital of the world. The Birthday Celebrations — the parade through the streets, the flags of nations unfurled in the town centre, the procession to Holy Trinity Church where a quill is laid at the Bard’s tomb, the Birthday Luncheon with 600 guests, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s evening performance — constitute the most sustained and serious annual celebration of a writer anywhere on earth. Ten million tourists visit Stratford-upon-Avon every year because of…

England’s national day arrives as it always does — quietly, without the bank holiday that would make it impossible to miss, without the official fanfare that other nations deploy for their own patron saints. St George’s Day is the English occasion at its most characteristically English: understated in its official observance, increasingly confident in its informal celebration, and growing year on year as the conversation about English identity becomes more comfortable, more inclusive, and more genuinely interested in what it actually means to celebrate the country rather than simply to defend it. We launch our Collection of Designer Women Scarves.…