Bob Colacello

For this issue, special correspondent Bob Colacello wrote about two very different European newsmakers: Prince Charles (“The Prince and the Planet,” page 144), who has long been a fervent environmentalist, and the artist François Marie Banier (“The Gilded Friendship,” page 192), who was the catalyst of France’s biggest political scandal in years. “It was fascinating to go from chatting with the Prince at Highgrove, this bastion of traditionalism, to Banier’s studio in Paris, a hotbed of the avant-garde,” Colacello says. “The contrast could not have been greater. But both men are extremely passionate about their work.”

Tom Sancton

Tom Sancton didn’t plan to write about the Bettencourt scandal, as he does in “Dangerous Liaisons” (page 186). “I had intended to take the summer in France to work on my novel, but as the story unfolded, my reporter’s instincts got the better of me,” he says. Sancton was Time magazine’s Paris-bureau chief for 10 years, and this article, he says, “was an unexpected chance for me to get back into the fray of reporting a major story in France.” A revised edition of his coming-of-age memoir, Song for My Fathers (Other Press), was released in April.

Jonathan Becker

For this month’s feature about Prince Charles (“The Prince and the Planet,” page 144), contributing photographer Jonathan Becker visited the future King of England at Highgrove, his country estate. “He’s a reflective, pensive creature who seems genuinely, and appropriately, troubled by the condition of the planet,” says Becker, whose images have appeared in Vanity Fair since its 1982 prototype. “He has now managed to bring all of his seemingly disparate interests together in his book Harmony.“ This is the latest of many collaborations between Becker and Bob Colacello, who have worked “hand in glove” on V.F. stories for 20-plus years.

Bethany McLean

What contributing editor Bethany McLean loves most about financial reporting, she says, is the “full display of human nature— the greed, arrogance, ferocious ambition, and betrayal.” McLean, working alongside New York Times columnist Joe Nocera, found all that and more in writing All the Devils Are Here, which is excerpted in “The Blundering Herd” (page 178) and will be published this month by Portfolio. However, she adds, in the global financial crisis, “few things are black-and-white.”

Sam Kashner

“We have had Warhol’s Marilyn, Mailer’s Marilyn, and Joyce Carol Oates’s fictionalized Marilyn. Now, finally, we have Marilyn’s Marilyn,” says contributing editor Sam Kashner, referring to the movie icon’s recently unearthed private musings, about which he writes in “Marilyn and Her Monsters” (page 164). In the 1950s, Monroe underwent regular psychoanalysis and was encouraged to write down her thoughts, feelings, and memories, however raw, because, as Kashner observes, “she was one of those people in perpetual mourning for their life.” Nonetheless, he says, “she stands outside of time as few performers do. For young actresses she will always be a kind of patron saint—the artist suicided by society.”

William Shawcross

In “Palace Coup” (page 183), William Shawcross spotlights Sir Kenneth Scott and his upcoming book, St. James’s Palace: A History. Shawcross deems Scott, a former private secretary to Queen Elizabeth, uniquely qualified to shed light on the royal residence. “Sir Kenneth’s life has been steeped in the monarchy, past and present, and he was a longtime resident of St. James’s Palace,” he says. “So he has encountered all the ghosts.” Shawcross is also an accomplished chronicler of the monarchy; his official biography of the Queen Mother is out in paperback this month from Knopf.

Gabe Pressman

The late New York senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan was “a moral compass” who was “passionate about preserving the greatness of our city,” says veteran WNBC reporter Gabe Pressman, who spotlights Moynihan’s collected letters (to be published this month by PublicAffairs) in “The Genuine Maverick” (page 197). Pressman, known as “the Dean” for his pioneering and lasting role in television journalism, was a longtime friend of the senator’s; the two were so close, Pressman says wryly, that “philosophically I don’t approve of my relationship with Pat Moynihan.” Pressman is currently working on a memoir about his life in television news.

Michael Roberts

Style editor-at-large Michael Roberts didn’t have to travel far for his Funny Face-inspired fashion spread, “Think Hepburn!” (page 136). Shooting in Paris, where he lives, Roberts used this fall’s couture to channel the light mood and ladylike look of the 1957 film. “Serendipity has it that current fashion trends are strongly related to the ones of the past,” says Roberts, who styled, photographed, and wrote the captions for the feature. “Whether it’s Mad Men syndrome or something else, I’m very happy about things looking very grown-up, polished, and soigné.”

Ned Zeman

Contributing editor Ned Zeman has written for V.F. about all kinds of eccentric adrenaline junkies, among them Timothy “Grizzly Man” Treadwell and Bruno “Penguin Man” Zehnder. But what is remarkable about the young adventurers in “Higher, Colder, Deadlier” (page 198)—the story of four British boarding-school chums and a harrowing climbing accident in the French Alps—is how normal they seemed. “They were like guys I knew in school, only with more guts and better accents,” Zeman says. “They did extreme things, but they’re relatable. You can’t dismiss them as irresponsible lunatics.”

Charles Moore

In “Debo with a Blue Dress On” (page 156), Charles Moore spotlights Deborah Devonshire, the 90-year-old dowager duchess who, in her upcoming book, Wait for Me: Memoirs of the Youngest Mitford Sister, reflects on her life as one of the six celebrated Mitford sisters. “Unlike most aristocratic women, she is a real writer,” Moore explains. “There are a lot of wonderful characters who have amazing stories, but most don’t really know how to put it on paper. She writes just as she talks.” Moore, a columnist for The Daily Telegraph and its former editor, is writing the authorized biography of Margaret Thatcher.

Todd S. Purdum

In 2006, national editor Todd S. Purdum gained unfettered access to John McCain. “I watched him struggle to Find his footing with a Republican Party that never much liked him,” Purdum says, “and he made a number of questionable compromises as he re-aligned himself to the party’s orthodoxy.” This month, in “The Man Who Never Was” (page 128), Purdum argues that McCain’s metamorphosis is complete. “He did whatever he had to do to get re-elected, but he’s paid an awful price with his reputation, and perhaps with history. For some of those who’ve admired him longest, that’s the tragedy.”

David Fenner

As the number two to copy chief Peter Devine, associate copy editor David Fenner helps to ensure that every article, blurb, and caption is grammatically flawless and jibes with the magazine’s house style. “The biggest challenge is to bring a copy editor’s desire for order and perfection to a story without getting in the way of the writer’s voice or methods,” says Fenner. “You don’t want to be the woodworker who is given a beautiful, unique piece of wood and sands all the character off it.” A 10-year veteran at V.F., Fenner is an avid tennis player and runner—he has completed nine marathons.