Royal walks go like clockwork: the royal rolls up in an expensive car with security in tow, they step out, and immediately a waiting child steps forward with a bouquet of flowers clutched in his little hands. The royal bows down, accepts it, and the whole thing is photographed from 17 different angles. It is one of the sweetest rituals of public royal life. In addition, the public also brings hundreds of bouquets.
But what happens next? After the cameras stop and the engagement is over, Kate Middleton won’t go home and put the bouquet of flowers in her kitchen or on her nightstand.
How many flowers are we actually talking about?
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Although it is not publicly recorded how many bouquets of flowers the royal family receives each year, the scale is obviously significant. Senior members of the royal family hold hundreds of official engagements each year, and almost all of them feature flowers. On a busier walk, such as a jubilee celebration or a royal tour, a single king may receive dozens of bouquets in just one afternoon. Over the course of a year, the volume of bouquets can approach thousands.
There are many flowers. And they have to go somewhere.
What is really happening to them?
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Many gifts from the public have to go through a strict security check before the royal family can even keep them, but flowers are treated very differently. You may also see members of the royal family graciously accepting a bouquet of flowers and handing it to a staff member or doll to carry, most often out of practicality (it’s very difficult to shake hands while holding an armful of roses).
Things can vary quite a bit depending on the location. If the royals are on tour and staying in a hotel, the flowers are often returned to their room and displayed in a vase. It’s a small detail that gives a wonderful human feel to the whole thing. If you also like the look of flowers displayed in a vase, try this one from Target which has lovely blue flower details.
In the UK, however, flowers rarely stay with the royal family for long. Those close to the royals revealed that the flowers often end up going to churches or charities at the end of the day. said Keith Roy of the Monarchical Association of Canada Good to know“Gifts are often given to various charities they highlight.”
It’s a very regal, very practical solution to an impractical amount of flowers, and one that makes the gesture that much sweeter. One gives flowers to a basilica, and those same flowers end up in a hospice or church somewhere: a natural cycle.
The flowers left at the palace gates
A separate category altogether, but still worth mentioning, are the flowers left by the public at the palace gates at important moments. When Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022, the sea of flowers outside Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and Sandringham became one of the defining images of mourning. The amount of flowers was amazing, but it still begged the question: what is really going on with them?
Under these circumstances, she is often managed by palace staff who work to ensure that floral tributes are done respectfully. Often, the public is asked to remove the plastic wrap from a bouquet of flowers before dropping it off, to help with composting. Most of the plant material is eventually composted and used on royal estates. Thus, the flowers return to their soil in the literal sense. If you also want to compost your own garden, this The Cozurra 45 Gallon Compost Tumbler is available on Amazon for a great price.
The tradition behind royal bouquets
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The gift of flowers to royals is one of the oldest and most universal forms of showing public admiration and affection for them. And, there is also a lot of tradition behind flowers within the royal family itself.
For example, every royal wedding bouquet dating back to Queen Victoria must carry a sprig of myrtle. And this myrtle sprig not just picked up from any old garden store. When Prince Albert’s grandmother gave Victoria a vase containing myrtle during a visit to Gotha, Germany, Victoria planted a sprig of it at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, where it still grows today. Queen Elizabeth II wore it, Diana, Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle. If you like the look of myrtle, you can get it seeds from Seedville USA at Walmart.
The next time you see a royal receiving bouquets of flowers from the public, it’s worth knowing that they won’t go to waste. It will end up in a jar, in a church or a charity, and occasionally, if the time is right, in the hands of someone who needed it far more than the palace.
