The rose is many things for the English: symbol, passion, descriptor of an ideal beauty, the sine qua non of gardens from cottages (the cottage itself must have roses around its porch) to stately homes. Such is our fixation with the flower that we even managed to name a long running civil war on it, the legend being that the houses of York and Lancaster identified themselves and their adherents by the white and red roses respectively. Today any sporting clash between teams from the two counties is inevitably described as a roses’ fixture.
But it is with beauty rather than war that we most associate the rose, specifically using the phrase English Rose to describe a certain sort of beauty: fine features, pale skin, a brunette with naturally wavy hair, her eyes dark and wide, mouth forever smiling or laughing. Each generation has its prime examples: Elizabeth Taylor , Princess Margaret , Emma Thompson , and Alice Eve just four who would qualify for the epithet.
The rose has also won a firm place in our national customs. In Lancashire and Cheshire fetes and festivals still often require the crowning of a rose queen; in London there is a delightful annual ceremony on Midsummer’s Eve involving the payment of one red rose to the Lord Mayor for a footbridge that no longer exists; and every August 1 various regiments of the British Army including the Suffolk, the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, and the Royal Hampshire wear roses to celebrate their part in the 1759 Battle of Minden where they decorated their hats with roses as they marched at the enemy.
Equally institutional is our tradition of naming roses for famous people: some linked to fleeting celebrities are soon forgotten, but those for great figures like William Morris , Shakespeare and Chaucer will perhaps endure, as surely will our national obsession with the flower itself.
More British Institutions
Afternoon Tea
Allotments
April Fools Day
Big Ben
Binge Drinking
Black Cabs
Bonfire Night
British Sense of Humour
Brown Windsor Soup
Burns Night
Cadburys
Castles
Changing the Guard
City of London
Coronation Street
Cowes Week
Cricket
Crufts
Dad’s Army
E-Type Jag
Eccentricity
English Country Garden
Fish and Chips
Fish Fingers
Fox Hunting
Full English Breakfast
Gin and Tonic
Glastonbury
Glorious Goodwood
Grand National
Grouse Shooting
Harrods
Highland Games
Hogmanay
James Bond
John Bull
King Arthur
Land Rover
Lloyds of London
London to Brighton Veteran Car Rally
Marks and Spencer
Monty Python
Morecambe and Wise
Old School Tie
Oxbridge
Panto
Picnics
Pimms
Point-to-Point
Punch and Judy
Queueing
Real Ale
Red Arrows
Red Telephone Boxes
Remembrance Poppies
Robin Hood
Rolls Royce
Royal Ascot
Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo
Savile Row Suits
School Discos
School Sports Day
Seaside Piers
Speakers’ Corner
Stag Nights
Stiff Upper Lip
Strawberries and Cream
Street Markets
Summer Festivals
Sunday Roasts
The Archers
The BBC
The Beano
The Boat Race
The Brass Band
The British Bobby
The Bulldog
The Church of England
The Cup Final
The Curry House
The English Rose
The Garden Shed
The Honours System
The Kilt
The Last Night at the Proms
The London Bus
The Mini
The National Trust
The NHS
The Oak
The Pub
The Queen’s Speech
The Rolling Stones
The Royal Christmas Message
The Spitfire
The V Sign
The Village Fete
The Weather
Travelling Fairs
Trooping the Colour
Village Greens
Wedgwood
Wellington Boots
Wimbledon
Wine Gums
Yeomen of the Guard
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