Love and relationships
Childhood sweethearts Hannah and Simon Martin, both 40, have battled infertility and grief during their 17-year marriage. But as they look forward to a cosy family Christmas, they have the tools to navigate life’s obstacles together
I’m not sure I believe in love at first sight, but there was definitely something about Simon from the moment we first met at boarding school, aged 15. I remember being struck by how good-looking he was.
We soon developed a friendship and I discovered he was also annoyingly good at everything – an England hockey player, a gifted musician and an academic high-flyer. Like me, he was also a member of the Christian Union (CU). I was smitten.
A few weeks into term, as we were walking back to the boarding house together after a CU meeting, Simon turned to me and said, ‘Hannah, I really like you. I’d love it if we could go out.’ We kissed the following day after orchestra practice – embarrassingly, I was still holding my violin at the time. He’d pass me love notes between lessons and we’d grab every spare second together in the evenings. That was October 1998 and we’ve been together – give or take a few hiccups – ever since.
Simon proposed on holiday in Italy in 2005. I was just 22, but marrying young was the norm among our friends, who were predominantly Christian. We married the following summer and moved into a tiny flat in southeast London. Simon got a ‘proper’ job in sales at data and tech company Bloomberg, and I worked on the Clinique counter at Fenwick on Bond Street, while I tried to establish myself as a makeup artist. Those first years were filled with fun, laughter and small dinner parties in our poky little kitchen.
Simon and I grew up together as we navigated marriage and adulthood.
Although I’d studied nursing at university, it was doing the makeup for a drama society play that got me really excited and I set my heart on a career as a makeup artist. The Clinique counter was opposite the Bobbi Brown stand and I thought, ‘That’s where I want to be.’ I ended up working for Bobbi for 12 years, eventually becoming part of her global leadership team, travelling the world and doing the makeup for some amazing people, including Dame Helen Mirren, Minnie Driver and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. Even though we had different jobs, Simon has always been so supportive of my career. Plus, it’s a good balance to have one creative and one maths whizz in the family!
STRUGGLING WITH LOSS
Despite my professional success, all I really wanted to be was a mum; both Simon and I hoped to be young parents. I remember my mother, Diana, saying a prayer on our wedding day that we’d be blessed with children. But after three years, nothing had happened, so we went to see a doctor.
