This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
When I was asked to write about a photo that depicted a memorable moment in time, I thought it would be an easy task. It proved not to be. Firstly there have been so many memorable moments in my life, as with everyone – my wedding day, the births of each of my children and so on. But to choose which one would be so tricky (and possibly cause upset) so I decided to think of something completely different.
The second problem was finding the photo as all of my photos are not in albums since I gave that task up after the birth of my first child! So it was a case of dragging the school trunk down and rummaging through all the envelopes of carefully filed photos to find the one. Of course this proved to be a lengthy task as I found so many photos that brought back happy and sad memories, people that I have loved and lost, happy carefree times, a look captured by camera that has so much hidden meaning – it was a wonderful day that I spent locked into my past. It’s made me keen to make a few photo books via Photobox so that I can go down memory lane more often (and much more easily!).
But back to the task, I eventually chose a photo that not only defines me but also was a catalyst for my future and its happiness. It was taken in November 1985 at the Royal Albert Hall and is of Freddie Mercury and Jane Seymour during the wedding scene which was the finale to Fashion Aid, a Band Aid event. I had been working for David and Elizabeth Emanuel when Harvey Goldsmith called and asked us to be the finale to this show. As with anything that David and Elizabeth Emanuel did they threw all of their energy and passion into organising a show-stopper and, of course, as this was a Bob Geldof event there was no lack of motivation. I, as their assistant, was given the enviable task of pulling all of their ideas together. It was an inspirational choice to have Freddie Mercury as the groom and the absolutely stunning Jane Seymour as the bride and the rest of the cast was equally star-studded, Shakira and Michael Caine, Olivia Harrison, Barbara Bach and Ringo Starr, Fiona Fullerton, Mike Batt conducting the orchestra etc etc.
The event was a huge success and the Emanuel’s finale stole the show. Harvey came backstage and told me that it had been “f****** brilliant and whenever you have had enough of working with the Emanuels come work for me.” And so I did some time later and there I met his business partner who became my husband. Subsequently I have had the most fascinating and wonderful life ever since, full of joys and sadness, but overall always exciting! So my thanks to David and Elizabeth Emanuel, Freddie Mercury and Jane Seymour for being the catalyst for the rest of my life.