saywhattube.com
I wouldn’t describe myself as a royalist. But I am not against the monarchy particularly either. Sure, they cost an insane amount of money, and get into the most toe curling – or indeed sucking – scrapes, but on balance I believe they are an asset to the country, whether as a means of attracting tourist revenue, or by bringing a bit of cheer to ordinary members of the public as they go about their relentless schedule of meeting, greeting, ribbon cutting, plaque unveiling and champagne bottle smashing (against the sides of ships, I mean).
HRH Queen Elizabeth II brunel.ac.uk
For the royals – or some of them at any rate – are incredibly hard working, and really put themselves out there in the public domain. The Queen’s distinctive colour blocking style – or arguably uni-colour blocking style, as she is invariably dressed from top to toe in a single eye catching shade – is designed to make her easier to spot on her walkabouts. Most people I know have had a glimpse of some royal or other in their lifetime; as a little girl in 1927, my mother presented a purse to the late Queen Mother (then Duchess of York, aka Helena Bonham-Carter) when she visited Australia. Some fifty odd years later I saw Prince Charles at the Airborne Forces Day in Aldershot – he was visiting the Parachute Regiment of which he was Colonel-in-Chief – and stood just a finger-poke-through-a-wire-fence away from me, wearing the signature maroon beret of the Paras. Several of the royal family have even graced our small provincial town with their presence, opening hospital wings, planting millennium woods and such like – so I could have seen more of them if I had been bothered enough to stand around for hours, occasionally getting prodded by small children atop parental shoulders, waving flags.
nfsa.gov.au Duchess of York in Australia 1927
Yes, the royals may live in a gilded cage but they also move amongst us, and major events in their lives – marriages, coronations, jubilees and deaths – tend to unite people all along the royalist spectrum, from diehard monarchists with a house full of commemorative crockery to those who will grudgingly admit to shedding a tear when Diana met her sudden and untimely end.
I can also confirm that there is a lively interest in the doings of our royal family outside the UK… I happened to be in Germany, for example, on the day of Prince Charles’s wedding to Camilla, and watched the coverage of the event on local TV. Ironically, the town where I was staying (Hamelin, of Pied Piper fame), is also home to the national headquarters of the Lady Di-Gedächtnis-Club (Lady Di Memorial Club), an organisation dedicated to keeping the memory of the late Princess alive. The local tipple in Hamelin is called – rather aptly, in view of the Pied Piper connection – Rattenkiller, and I had visions of an embittered huddle of club members glued to the big screens in their local pub, scowling in dismay and drowning their sorrows in this potent brew.
Kim Weisswange
On now to this latest royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton, and to a run down of some fragrances that have been released to mark the occasion. To kick off – and staying with our German theme – it has been widely reported in the European press that a Hamburg-based perfumer, Kim Weisswange (who specialises in bespoke scents for celebrity clients), has been commissioned to create a duo of “his and her” fragrances for the royal couple called, quite simply, “William” and “Catherine”. PR staff at Clarence House will not confirm this, but according to Weisswange this is not her first commission for the Royals; she claims to have created three scents for the occasion of the Queen’s 80th birthday, and one for Prince Charles himself – indeed it is Charles who is said to have first discovered her work.
Note List for William and Kate
The few details Weisswange has let slip about this latest scent duo is that William’s has notes of agarwood, lavender and bergamot and is: “dynamic, bright, sporty and direct”, while Kate’s is “warm, sensual and restrained”, featuring notes of rose (as an homage to Princess Diana) and magnolia. Weisswange reportedly worked with over 90 different materials to create these fragrances, which took seven weeks to make – actually, that doesn’t seem very long to me – not by Jean-Claude Ellena standards in Chandler Burr's “The Perfect Scent”!
In addition to these supposedly “official” perfumes, I have managed to track down and procure samples of two other fragrant tributes to the royal wedding from famous UK perfume houses, namely Grossmith’s Betrothal and Wedding Bouquet by Floris.
The House of Grossmith dates back to 1835, and is currently owned by Simon Brooke, the great great grandson of the founder, John Grossmith. Brooke oversaw the revival of “three classic English perfumes” (notwithstanding their exotic names!) in 2009: Hasu-no-Hana, Phul-Nana and Shem-el-Nessim, which are reworkings of original formulae and packaging designs. This year sees the launch of Betrothal, “the first of our new generation of modern scents based on the original formulae”. With notes of rose, jasmine, narcissus, geranium, hyacinth, bergamot, ylang, musk and orris, Betrothal is a romantic floral scent originally created to commemorate the marriage of Queen Mary in 1893; the present version has been tweaked to appeal to the tastes of a modern princess, her great great granddaughter-in-law-to-be!
bridesmagazine.co.uk Queen Mary
I was a little apprehensive about sampling Betrothal, as I am not a huge fan of the style of Grossmith perfumes, which are rather too powdery and retro for my taste, though that is entirely in keeping with the company’s intention of reviving historic formulae. Just as we have Guerlinade, and latterly also Tauerade, I would go so far as to say that Grossmith has its own distinctive powdery base – may I be the first to call it Grossmithade? To my nose it is super powdery, slightly prickly, and with an almost herbal, musty aspect – I may just be picking up on the patchouli and woody base that is common to all three scents. So I will leave it to a more qualified nose than mine to fully appreciate this most traditional of English fragrance brands:
“(Grossmith) has languished for many years and its revival is a welcome addition to the perfumery canon as their scents have a wonderful complexity and quality which I believe is totally in tune with the current trend for authenticity, legitimacy, and individuality.” – Roja Dove
Moreover, I am happy to report that Betrothal definitely smells more contemporary. The opening is slightly puzzling, though – I get a plasticky note wrapped in powder – as though Amarige were trapped inside L’Heure Bleue or, indeed, inside one of the classic Grossmith scents. This quickly passes, however, and with time Betrothal gradually becomes less powdery and more modern in feel, though I wouldn’t say it ever feels like a Chanel or a Dior, for example. There is a rooty, earthy quality – very likely the orris and geranium – that takes the edge off the prettier florals and gives the scent depth and sophistication, as well as a slightly aloof and regal character. This may have been perfect for Queen Mary back in the day, and arguably may suit the pomp and ceremony of a royal wedding in any era, yet my personal preference would be for a more cheerful, guileless style of floral scent to offset the extreme formality of the occasion.
And then we have Floris’s Wedding Bouquet, which is pretty much exactly that… According to the company’s website it was created “by drawing inspiration from the most popular Floris wedding fragrances from the past and introducing a modern twist using a white flower theme”. Moreover, the notes have been carefully chosen to underline different aspects of marriage:
Jasmine to signify eternal love
Lily of the valley says “you have made my life complete”
Orange blossom signifies innocence and marriage
types-of-flowers.org
And here is the full note listing for Wedding Bouquet: Top notes: bergamot, lemon, lily of the valley, marine; Heart notes: jasmine, orange blossom, stephanotis; Base notes: musk, sandalwood.
Right off the bat, Wedding Bouquet feels more contemporary to my nose, and is very much in the same vein as a clutch of somewhat generic but dainty feminine florals, of which these are just a few examples that immediately sprang to mind: Miss Dior Chérie L’Eau without the sharp citrus opening (bergamot, lemon, magnolia, neroli, jasmine absolute, musk and iris), Chanel Cristalle Eau Verte – also without the sharp citrus opening! – (bergamot, Sicilian lemon, magnolia accord, neroli, jasmine absolute, white musk and Florentine iris), and Creed’s Love in White (orange zest, young iridescent rice husk(!), iris, white jasmine, daffodils, magnolia, Bulgarian rose, vanilla, ambergris and sandalwood).
Additionally, the green notes I detect in the opening also bring to mind the privet-y vibe of Annick Goutal’s Eau de Camille, but only fleetingly, plus I see no mention of green notes being in there. In summary, both Betrothal and Wedding Bouquet are elegant, ladylike scents, but on balance I’d say that Wedding Bouquet is more likely to appeal to today’s bride, be she royal or otherwise.
Penhaligon's Shop Window
Completing the trio of long-established British perfume houses is Penhaligon’s: they chose not to launch a commemorative scent as such, but have decked out their stores in patriotic bunting, and had this message of congratulations for the Royal pair:
“As the proud owner of two Royal Warrants, Penhaligon’s Ltd would simply like to wish HRH Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton a wonderful day and very happy future together. This is a day for national celebration and we will be toasting the happy couple on their big day!”
forums.canadiancontent.net
So there you have my (probably not exhaustive) royal wedding scent round up, but who’s to say the royal couple won’t just stick with their tried and trusted favourites on the day? My research suggests that Prince William favours Ralph Lauren Polo and Penhaligon’s Blenheim Bouquet, and there are unconfirmed reports that Kate Middleton wears Dune by Dior, which I tend to think of as a dark, edgy marine fragrance. And then, assuming she hasn’t thrown it out or recycled it, Kate also owns Creed's Royal Ceylan. The House of Creed presented this to her at the time of its launch in 2006 – it features a lotus flower note and has royal connections of its own, as the website explains…
“In Ceylan's palaces, lotus flowers live in crystal waters, a symbol of good luck. In 1953, the Ceylan lotus flower was stitched in the coronation gown of Queen Elizabeth, who as Great Britain's monarch was also the modern Queen of Ceylan. Today, the lotus flower is known worldwide as a symbol of greatest calm.”