Queen Elizabeth Farewell Flowers Set The Trend For A Bespoke Sustainable Future
Just as the world starts to get back to a sense of normality, here at Lily Loves we remain reflective of the recent funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The week after the Queens death, and the funeral day itself was a chance for us all to learn so much more about the Queen than we had ever known before. We learnt more about her deep love of animals, her upbringing, and her passion for nature. This culminated in a monumental funeral where so many of us were invested in her, not only as a Queen and leader, but as an individual.
image source: Reuters
The Queen always had a love of flowers, and every Monday, when in residence, the gardeners at Buckingham Palace would send up a fresh posy of flowers from the garden for her desk.
“ The Queen loved primroses, lily-of-the-valley and other modest blooms far more than elaborate exotics; something that speaks volumes about her personality.”
image source: Reuters
The flowers at the funeral were watched by millions and reflected the story of a lady called Elizabeth that just so happened to be our Queen. From the single wreath that accompanied her on her very last journey, we learnt a lot about her relationship with her son, her favourite places, and also about the flowers that have featured at milestone times in her life such as her wedding day.
King Charles III requested the wreath contained flowers and foliage from the gardens of the royal residences. The foliage was chosen carefully for its symbolism;
Rosemary for remembrance
Myrtle, the symbol of a happy marriage, cut from a plant that was grown from a sprig of myrtle in The Queen's wedding bouquet in 1947
English oak, a national symbol of strength.
The flowers in the Queen's funeral wreath were all picked from her own gardens. They included pelargoniums, garden roses, autumnal hydrangea, sedum, dahlias and scabious, in shades of gold, pink and deep burgundy, with touches of white, to reflect the colours in the Royal Standard flag. These colours represent not only the Queens love of her gardens, but also the season in which her funeral took place. There is real beauty in the simplicity of locally sourced blooms. Nothing imported from shores afar, and no plastic wrapping.
Among the flowers was a handwritten card which read: "In loving and devoted memory, Charles R."
image source: Alamy
King Charles III is well-known for his commitment to the environment, and, at his request, the wreath was made sustainably. This was achieved without the use of floral foam but, instead, created in a nest of English moss and oak branches. We have been making wreaths with this method for years at Lily Loves, and sincerely hope that the world listens, now that sustainable floristry has had such a platform.
We hope that such an event will help to establish the trend for sustainable floristry. Be gone the days of catalogue flowers, exotic blooms and off the shelf wreaths. We welcome the days of bespoke, personal and deeply meaningful farewell blooms.
Flowers have played such a huge part in the story of Queen Elizabeth II. You only have to see the flowers laid at Buckingham Palace to understand what flowers represent to people. If you visited London that week, you will remember the scent that hits you as you approach. A mass of flowers offered as a remembrance to our late Queen. During that time of mourning, there was footage of the public and staff removing plastic wrapping from the flowers so that they could be used as compost within the palace grounds. This comes from a place of respect for both the Queens wishes, and a respect for the environment.
The cyclical nature of composting the mourning flowers reflects the cyclical nature of the very life that we are celebrating.
image source: Andrew Matthews/ Getty
We salute King Charles and all of the staff at the royal residences for thoroughly succeeding in a truly thoughtful display for the Queens last journey to her love, the late Prince Philip.
image source: PA/ Getty
