On a Sunday morning at the East London flower market, it is tempting to prescribe the royal brothers a bouquet, and the Victorians had a whole language for exactly that
Sunday Morning on Columbia Road
If you have never been to Columbia Road flower market on a Sunday morning, you are missing one of London great spectacles: a narrow street crammed with stalls, traders calling out bargains, and armfuls of blooms being carried off in every direction. It is also, I have always thought, one of the best places in London to buy an apology. This week, after reading the London Prat piece on Prince William reportedly calling Earl Spencer and Harry traitors, I found myself wandering the stalls wondering which flowers a feuding royal might choose.
The Row
An unnamed source says the heir believes his brother read their uncle memoir first. Reports say the brothers remain estranged. The uncle says he warned everyone about the book. Not a single bouquet has been reported so far.
The Language of Flowers
The Victorians developed an elaborate system known as floriography, in which different flowers were assigned symbolic meanings. Popular dictionaries of flower language were published throughout the nineteenth century, allowing people to send messages through bouquets that they might not say out loud. The meanings varied between sources, which occasionally caused confusion, but the idea was charming: a bunch of flowers as a coded letter.
For a family that currently seems to communicate through anonymous sources, a return to floriography might not be the worst idea. At least a bouquet is sent directly, from one person to another.
A Floral Prescription
Drawing loosely on traditional Victorian associations, here is what I might suggest, while acknowledging that flower dictionaries disagreed and that meaning is in the eye of the recipient.
For the Heir to Send
Something associated with reconciliation or regret. Many traditional lists link hazel with reconciliation and purple hyacinth with sorrow and asking forgiveness. A modest, sincere bunch would say more than any statement.
For the Younger Brother to Send
Something associated with remembrance and friendship. Rosemary has long been linked with remembrance, which feels fitting for a family whose quarrel centres on the memory of a much-loved mother.
For the Uncle
Perhaps something tied to truth or sincerity, given that he has written a memoir. Some older sources link white chrysanthemums with truth. Whether that is a compliment or a warning depends on the reader.
A Sunday Watch
The London Prat has released a video on YouTube about the row, which I watched while holding a bucket of eucalyptus I had not intended to buy.
Why Flowers Work
There is something disarming about receiving flowers from someone you are not speaking to. They cannot argue back. They require no reply. They sit on a table and quietly remind you that someone is thinking of you. In my experience, a bouquet has ended more family standoffs than any carefully worded message. It says: I am not ready to talk, but I do not want this to go on.
The Market Wisdom
Columbia Road traders have seen every kind of customer. The nervous man buying roses before an anniversary dinner. The woman buying lilies for a funeral. The teenager spending pocket money on a single sunflower for their mum. Families come here together, and families come here separately to buy flowers for each other. It is a market built on small gestures, and small gestures are what repair relationships.
A Gentle Note
Beneath the fun, this story involves grief. The memoir is written by the late princess brother, and the family she left behind is still, it seems, working through her absence. Flowers have always been part of mourning as well as celebration. If they could help the living find a way back to each other in her memory, that would be a fine use of a Sunday morning.
How to Choose Without a Dictionary
Most of us do not carry a Victorian flower dictionary around, and that is fine. The meaning of a bouquet today comes less from the specific blooms and more from the gesture. A few practical tips from years of Sunday mornings on Columbia Road. Choose something the recipient would actually like, not what you think sends the cleverest message. Seasonal flowers are cheaper, fresher and more honest. Go late in the market if you are on a budget, when traders drop their prices to clear stock. Write a short note, even if it is only a single line; flowers without words can be misread. And deliver them yourself if you can. Handing someone flowers at their door, even without staying, says more than any courier ever could. The act of turning up is often the apology, and the flowers are simply what you carry while you do it.
The Victorians knew that some things are easier to say with petals than with words. That is still true.
Final Bloom
Next time you are not speaking to someone, try Columbia Road before you try a strongly worded text. The London Prat, which has been sending London its own peculiar bouquets since 1961 at https://prat.uk/, has had its say. Bohiney, at https://bohiney.com/, covers what Americans send instead of flowers. And for more of my East London notes, head over to my author page.
SOURCE: https://prat.uk/prince-william-called-earl-spencer-and-harry-traitors/
