The May Queen’s duty is to begin the May Day celebrations. She is generally crowned by flowers and makes a speech before the dancing begins. Certain age groups dance round a Maypole celebrating youth and the spring time. Well, why not celebrate youth and springtime? A positive enough reason to embrace dancing, colour and strange British festivities… another example of a festival that circulates every year but we are not really sure why or where it came from. Wiki adds a touch of macabre by mentioning that the May Queen used to be put to death after her duties. This is not in keeping with our May Day vibes, so we will just leave that buried as ‘anti-pagan propaganda’ indeed. Game of Thrones gives us enough of a glimpse in to this kind of thing and let’s be honest, they do it best.

So, who is our crowned May Day Queen? We are celebrating Katharine Hepburn of course. Born May 12th, 1907, she seemed our obvious choice. A style before her time, her projection of self-confidence, wearing men’s clothing in full feminine force, not to mention her unforgettable talent as an actress. Her legacy is as relevant and inspiring today as she was 80 years ago. Those Downton Abbey girls wouldn’t have known what hit them.

We can’t have a May Day Queen without her King and it had to be our favourite Sir Ian McKellen to get the crown. Born May 25, 1939, he is seen here wearing a Marwood crest lace tie, he is the epitome of quintessential British style. His combinations are never classic or predictable. He is a style maker for sure and that’s not acknowledging the fact he played Gandalf among other famous roles and recently spoke up in an open penned letter against Russia’s anti-gay laws. Sir Ian… you are our King.