SAOIRSE Ronan and Mary, Queen of Scots – truly "the spirit of Great Britain".
Well, that's according to the cover of February's Harper's Bazaar, at least.
Social media users have been left baffled by the big, bold message at the bottom: "The spirit of Great Britain – courageous, creative & open to the world... together we are strong."
This confusion is mainly due to the juxtaposition with Ronan, who is most certainly not British. She was born in New York to two parents from Dublin, and moved back to Ireland at three.
One of the reasons for her interview, too, is to promote her new movie. "Saoirse Ronan on being Mary, Queen of Scots", it trails.
Again, Mary Queen of Scots appearing alongside "the spirit of Great Britain" is quite the contrast. Scotland wasn't even part of Britain during her reign.
We can always sympathise with the risks of having your front page misinterpreted on social media, and that was probably the case here.
It likely refers to a story about Brexit also in this edition, perhaps from comments made by Ronan ... but given the prominence of the Irish actress and the "spirit of Great Britain" words – and the colour scheme – the confusion is understandable.
She probably wouldn't be too happy with the mix-up, either. Speaking to the Irish Times last year about being misidentified as British, she said: "Well, I’m not. So I always correct them. I am proud of where I come from. I am proud of the work we’ve done. We can now stand in our own right as film-makers and actors. But, yeah, I do truly love it when people get so protective. That makes me smile.”
Twitter users made their feelings known too.
Uh, guys? You know Saoirse Ronan isn’t British, right? pic.twitter.com/xcKp8SNp84
— Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) January 3, 2019
It would be a shame, though not completely unexpected, if the Troubles were reignited by Harper’s Bazaar.
— Rick Burin (@rickburin) January 3, 2019
Hed text (the spirit of Great Britain) is incredibly deceptive and may or may not have been intentionally related to Saoirse Ronan’s cover story.
— Christy Havranek (@diopter) January 4, 2019
Nevertheless.
Saoirse👏 is 👏 Irish 👏 not 👏 British.
Ireland 👏 is 👏 not👏 part 👏 of 👏 Great Britain. pic.twitter.com/AFTI5AhdJG
Britain’s best actress is...
— Aisling Keenan (@aislingmkeenan) January 3, 2019
100% Irish, naturally. https://t.co/UD8wH6bL8w
So Harper’s Bazaar have the wonderful Saoirse Ronan on their cover, with the headline “The spirit of Great Britain" to accompany it. Nothing factually wrong. But certainly not the best idea. Just going to put this under ‘things that were not meant in 2019, but did anyway’..... pic.twitter.com/h6JQQJXZP6
— Dr. Jennifer Cassidy (@OxfordDiplomat) January 3, 2019
The Bazaar team hasn't yet commented on the confusion.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel