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As the junior fashion editor at British Vogue back in 1969, Grace Coddington might have expected to get up close with fashion royalty, but it was with actual royalty that she made her first impression. Tasked with assisting Norman Parkinson when he was to photograph Prince Charles for his investiture as Prince of Wales (Frontispiece, April 26, right), she was told to bring some make-up in case the young royal came in ‘flushed from the polo field’. As Miss Coddington began powdering the soon-to-be Prince of Wales, he said, in an effort to put her at ease, ‘I bet you do this all the time’, to which Miss Coddington admitted it was her first job. Parkinson took a polaroid image of Miss Coddington making up Charles’s face (left) and it’s said that the Prince remarked: ‘If you stole that picture, I bet you would make yourself a fortune’
Liberate your lawn
A RADICAL shift in attitudes towards lawn management is under way and it is to the benefit of plants, pollinators, people and planet.’ So says Ian Dunn, CEO of Plantlife, which has once again urged people to ‘give the lawnmower a month off’ as part of its No Mow May campaign, which aims to boost plant biodiversity and allow spring wild plants to seed. The charity is also highlighting the importance of garden lawns and green spaces against the decline of wild grassland habitats and wildflower meadows. The increased plant diversity provided by allowing wild plants to ‘get a foothold’ in