THE TUDOR ROSE

The rose symbol dates back to the “Wars of the Roses” in the second half of the fifteenth century in England. The white rose symbolised the House of York and the red rose the House of Lancaster. When the Lancastrians eventually triumphed and Henry VII became King of England, the two Houses were united by Henry through his marriage to the daughter of Edward IV of the House of York. This union was symbolised by combining the white rose of York with the red rose of Lancaster (as shown in this drawing) and became the symbol of The Tudors.

During the wars, many of the inns and hostels in the Yorkshire countryside had roses carved in the ceiling panels and beams of the bar rooms. Warlike matters discussed “under the rose” were treated as being very sensitive and not to be repeated to others under pain of death. Under-the-rose came to be accepted as a security classification and “Sub-Rosa” was used extensively to denote matters regarded as what one might call secret up to the early part of the twentieth century. Winston Churchill continued using the terms Sub-Rosa up to the start of World War II.

The symbol is now used extensively within countries of the former British Commonwealth, as well as those remaining in it, to denote a professional intelligence organisation.

Example of a Tudor Rose design copied from an oak beam carving at an inn, Beaumaris, Wales, UK