A Fairytale Monarchy

”There lived once a great queen, in whose garden were found, at all seasons, the most splendid flowers, and from every land in the world. She specially loved roses, and therefore she possessed the most beautiful varieties of this flower, from the wild hedge-rose, with its apple-scented leaves, to the splendid Provence rose. They grew near the shelter of the walls, wound themselves round columns and window-frames, and crept along passages and over the ceilings of the halls. They were of every fragrance and colour.”

Thus begins Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale ”The loveliest rose in the world”. The essence of the fairytale is The Rose as symbol of love.