19/09/2022
Today, September 19, people in the United Kingdom watched the magnificent and impressive State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II both in person and on live TV. Of course, as a florist, my attention was drawn to the flower arrangements, especially on the Queen's coffin.
The funeral bouquet on the top of Queen Elizabeth's casket held special meaning, and the flowers were chosen by the King Charles III. Each flower served its own purpose, but the myrtle used in the bouquet was grown from the same myrtle the Queen carried in her wedding bouquet when she married Prince Philip in 1947.
"At The King's request, the wreath contains foliage of Rosemary, English Oak and Myrtle (cut from a plant grown from Myrtle in The Queen's wedding bouquet) and flowers, in shades of gold, pink and deep burgundy, with touches of white, cut from the gardens of Royal Residences," a tweet from Buckingham Palace read.
Each aspect of the bouquet was chosen with intention. The rosemary represents remembrance, the English oak symbolizes the strength of love, and the myrtle represents a happy marriage. Additionally, the floral arrangement contained sweet peas, a favorite of the queen's and the flower of her birth month, April,
Other plants used were pelargoniums, garden roses, autumnal hydrangea, sedum, dahlias and scabious, which appeared in different shades of gold, pink, burgundy and white, thus reflecting the Royal Standard. The flowers were all cut from the gardens of Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, and Highgrove House. Also at the King's request, the funeral wreath was sustainably made without the use of floral foam.
I felt deeply moved when I learned the deep message of the Royal Funeral bouquet, seeing certain parallels in the mood how I myself created an arrangement dedicated to the Queens's Platinum Jubilee a few months ago, which was my assestment work at the same time.
I named the arrangement "The Queen's Wonderful Garden", and it was based on the favorite colours of the Queen's outfits. As a special accent, the Queen's favorite flowers - lillies of the valley - were chosen. They also were included in the Queen's coronation bouquet in 1953. I also gathered a lot of the greens and flowers I used from the garden and the wild as a message of how beautiful this Queen's land is.
Although the flowers chosen for those two arrangements were different, I was deeply touched by the fact that they were designed in a similar country style, and that I had unconsciously "caught" the style and sensibilities that have obviously been close to the Queen.π
R.I.P. Queen Elizabeth.π€