Rosa ‘Prince Albert’

Horticultural & Botanical History

Raised by Laffay at Fontenay aux Roses, near Paris, and introduced to Britain by William Paul.  Paul (1848) classified a rose of this name as a Hybrid Perpetual.  I believe it to be Laffay’s rose.  It has an interesting history, with concern expressed in the Belgian publication Flore des Serres that it is identical to ‘Souvenir de la Reine des Belges.’  Louis van Houtte consulted Laffay who wrote to the journal on the 5th of October, 1851, agreeing that there was an extreme resemblance to his seedling ‘Prince Albert’.  He closes by saying: ‘Enfin, Monsieur, je n’ai pas voulu en greffer un seul rameau pour l’an prochain, persuadé que cette variété n’est que le produit d’une erreur.’  (‘Finally, Monsieur, I have not wanted to graft a single branch for the next year, persuaded that this variety is nothing but a product of error.’)  ‘Prince Albert’ was figured later in the same volume of Flore des Serres.  [FS misc. 574/1853, FS f.808/1853].

History at Camden Park

Arrived from Veitch’s Nursery, Chelsea on Dec, 31st, 1859 on board the ‘Hollinside’ but dead on arrival.  For more detail see Rosa ‘Ducher’.

Notes

Not surprisingly at least two roses of this name were grown in the early to mid 19th century.  An earlier rose by this name, a Hybrid China, was described by William Paul in the first edition of The Rose Garden.  He described its flowers as a delicate pink, the petals closely and elegantly arranged, of medium size, compact, perfect, a beautiful rose but rather undersize.  It was raised at Brenchly in Kent.  [Paul 1848].