''Queen'' was a British society magazine established by

Samuel Beeton Samuel Orchart Beeton (2 March 1831 – 6 June 1877) was an English publisher, best known as the husband of Mrs Beeton (Isabella Mary Mayson) and publisher of ''Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management''. He also founded and published '' Boy's ...

in 1861 as ''The Queen''. In 1958 the magazine was sold to

Jocelyn Stevens Sir Jocelyn Edward Greville Stevens, (14 February 1932 – 9 October 2014) was the British publisher of ''Queen'' magazine and later the chairman of English Heritage. Education and career Stevens attended Eton College and Trinity College, Cambr ...

and became one of the top publications of the "

swinging sixties The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London denoted as its centre. It saw a flourishing in ...

". In 1970 the publication merged with British ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' (stylized as ''Harper's BAZAAR'') is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. Bazaar has been published in New York City since November 2, 1867, originally as a weekly publication entitled ''Harper's Bazar''."Corporat ...

'' to become ''Harper's & Queen''. In 2006 the magazine dropped "''& Queen''" to become '' Harper's Bazaar UK''.

Background

''Queen'' was a British society magazine, the magazine was founded in 1861 by

as ''The Queen'', and as ''The Lady's Newspaper, The Queen & Court Chronicle'' from 1863 to 1863, ''The Queen, The Lady's Newspaper & Court Chronicle'' from 1864 to 1922, then as ''The Queen'' from 1923 to 1961 and finally as ''Queen'' from 1962 to 1970. The magazine was published weekly and later fortnightly.

Editors

History

In the 1860s the magazine focused on the lives of the wealthy Victorian society, and had approval to use the name by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. Queen Victoria also corrected proofs of the magazine in its early years. During this time the magazine contained poetry and articles on society news, fashion and domestic subjects. ''The Lady's Newspaper and Pictorial Times'' (1848–1863) and the Court Chronicle (?–1863) merged with the magazine in 1863. In 1957,

purchased the magazine and reinvigorated it, targeting a younger audience and embracing the Swinging Sixites. Following his purchase of the magazine he approached

Beatrix Miller Beatrix Molineux Miller, CBE (29 June 1923 – 21 February 2014) was a British fashion and cultural magazine editor. She was editor of ''Queen'' from 1958 to 1964, and editor of ''British Vogue'' from 1964 to 1985. Early life Miller was born o ...

(former editorial secretary and features writer) to leave ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

'' in New York City and return to London to edit ''The Queen''.

Mark Boxer Charles Mark Edward Boxer (19 May 1931 – 20 July 1988) was a British magazine editor and social observer, and a political cartoonist and graphic portrait artist working under the pen-name ‘Marc’. Education Boxer was educated at Berkhamst ...

was hired as art director. The January 1959 issue featured almost only pictures of China taken by

Henri Cartier-Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson (; 22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French artist and Humanist photography, humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 135 film, 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street ...

. In 1962 the magazine was retitled to ''Queen''. The ideal reader of the new Queen was envisioned by editor

was "Caroline", with a style guide given to every contributing writer so they knew who they would be writing for. According to

Clement Freud Sir Clement Raphael Freud (24 April 1924 – 15 April 2009) was a British media personality, broadcaster, writer, politician and chef. The son of Ernst L. Freud and grandson of Sigmund Freud, Clement moved to the United Kingdom from Nazi Germany ...

the fictional Caroline had fair long hair, left school at sixteen and was the "sort of person one ended up in bed with". In 1964 in an attempt to reverse the Pilkington Report, Stevens financed a

pirate radio Pirate radio is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are rec ...

called ''Radio'' ''Caroline'' (named after Caroline, Queen's ideal reader). Initially the radio operated out of the ''Queen'' editorial offices on

Fetter Lane Fetter Lane is a street in the ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London, England. It forms part of the A4 road (England), A4 road and runs between Fleet Street at its southern end and Holborn. History The street was originally called F ...

. Miller left the magazine in 1964 to edit ''

British Vogue ''British Vogue'' (stylised in all caps) is the British edition of the American Fashion journalism, fashion magazine Vogue (magazine), Vogue. The magazine was launched in 1916 by Condé Nast, linking together fashion and high society.König A ...

'', where she remained till 1984. After Radio Caroline was banned in 1967 Stevens began to lose interest in the magazine, with the publication "going nowhere" and readers beginning to loose interest. In 1968 he sold the magazine to Michael Lewis of Oxley Industries. Hugh Johnson was appointed as editor after an interview regarding a travel supplement. Johnson hired

Ann Barr Isabel Ann Barr (16 September 1929 – 4 May 2015) was a British journalist and writer involved in coining the terms Sloane Rangers and Foodies, in the early 1980s. Early life Isabel Ann Barr was born in London to Andrew and Margaret Barr, who w ...

of The Weekend Telegraph as features editor. Under Johnson it took on disdain for all that could be viewed as out of style, with the fashion editor refusing to see the Paris collections calling them "too boring". The magazine included some of the last magazine shoots of

Sharon Tate Sharon Marie Tate Polanski (January 24, 1943 – August 9, 1969) was an American actress and model. During the 1960s, she appeared in advertisements and small television roles before appearing in films as well as working as a model. After receiv ...

before her 1969 murder. Clothing would be from "

Courrèges Courrèges () is a French prêt-à-porter fashion house that was founded by French fashion designers André Courrèges and his at the time partner (and later wife) Coqueline Courrèges in 1961 as a couture house. Fashion house Courrèges was l ...

and

Ungaro Ungaro is a surname, meaning 'of Hungarian people, Hungarian descent/origin'. Notable people with the surname include: * Emanuel Ungaro (19332019), French fashion designer * Gaetano Ungaro (born 1987, Reggio Calabria), Italian professional football ...

. Or bits of plastic on chains like

Paco Rabanne Francisco Rabaneda Cuervo (18 February 1934 – 3 February 2023), more commonly known under the pseudonym of Paco Rabanne (; ), was a Spanish-born naturalised-French fashion designer. Rabanne rose to prominence as an ''enfant terrible'' of ...

.'" Johnson left to edit ''

The World Atlas of Wine ''The World Atlas of Wine'' by Hugh Johnson and (since 2003) Jancis Robinson, MW, is an atlas and reference work on the world of wine, published by Mitchell Beazley. It pioneered the use of wine-specific cartography to give wine a sense of place ...

'' and with falling circulation Michael Lewis put the magazine up for sale. In August 1970 it was announced that the magazine would merge with British Harper's Bazaar, with the first issue appearing in November 1970. The aim of the merger was to use the best material from both magazines and increase circulation to over 500,000. At the time the two publications were rivals and aimed at a similar audience. The

National Magazine Company National Magazine Company (or Nat Mags) is a British magazine publisher based in London. It was established in 1910 by William Randolph Hearst and was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation. Arnaud de Puyfontaine became chief execut ...

(publisher of Harper's Bazaar) as it still had the aura of "it" compared to Harper's Bazaar which had fallen out of popularity.

References

{{reflist *'' The Economist'' 2 May 1964. Commercial Radio: Dial 199 for Caroline. "... Mr. Joceyln Stevens built up a successful image in his previous venture (''Queen'' magazine) round a mythical girl of the same name but higher-class associations." (p.508) *Grenada Television (UK), 12 May, 1964. ''The World in Action''. Interview with Jocelyn Stevens and Ronan O'Rahilly at the offices of ''Queen'' magazine which initially served as the management and sales offices for Radio Caroline. *Independent, The, 14 September 2006. Quentin Crewe obituary. Quotes Crewe regarding Beatrix Miller's invention of the name 'Caroline' in ''Queen'' magazine. *No Time to Die by Tiberis, Liz. Avon, New York, 1998. A profile of editor Beatrix Miller and her penchant for naming things. (pp.76-78) 'Caroline' was introduced by Miller as the name of her style sheet to provide writers with a profile of ''The Queen'' magazines readership. *''Time'', February 1962. - Jocelyn Stevens and his use of a 'Caroline' theme in his magazine originally called 'The Queen'. *''The Queen'' (Christmas edition 1961), p2. Subscription invitation to readers "for Caroline". The magazine's use of this name predates its radio use by several years. Jocelyn Stevens noted that he dropped the magazine prefix on 30 January 1962 (Coleridge, Nicholas and Stephen Quinn: The Sixties in Queen. Ebury Press, London, 1987,(p.6)

External links

The Queen archives
(1861–1874; 1886–1945; 1947–1964),

British Newspaper Archive The British Newspaper Archive website provides access to searchable digitized archives of British and Irish newspapers. It was launched in November 2011. History The British Library's Newspapers section was based in Colindale in north London ...

Photos from Queen
Duffy Archive Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1861 1861 establishments in the United Kingdom