Royal shock: The dark secret behind Queen’s favourite flower
THE Royal Family will not be able to physically attend the Chelsea Flower Show this year due to COVID-19 but plans to celebrate all the same with a photo of the Queen with her favourite flower. However, the monarch's favourite blossom comes with a deadly effect.
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The Queen and the rest of the Royal Family will sadly not be able to attend the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year. The annual gardening event will take place virtually due to COVID-19, but the Firm has celebrated regardless with some throwback pictures.
Over the weekend, the Royal Family shared pictures of the Queen at the Chelsea Flower show in 1949, when she was 23.
In one photo, onlookers watched the Queen, then Princess Elizabeth, as an aide helped her across a rocky pond in heels.
Another picture showed the Queen on her coronation in 1953 carrying a bouquet containing her favourite flower, the lily of the valley.
The caption read: "The Queen has chosen lily of the valley, pictured here in the Buckingham Palace gardens."
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"Lily of the valley featured in Her Majesty's coronation bouquet and has held special associations since."
While the flowers are famed for their bell-like appearance and usage in perfume, they have a dark side.
According to the Royal Horticultural Society lily of the valley, also known by its scientific name convallaria majalis, is "highly toxic by ingestion".
Gardeners warn the plant can be fatal if eaten, as it poisons people with cardiac glycosides.
The glycosides can cause heart block and other cardiac issues, making the flower particularly dangerous for young children and pets.
They need only ingest as little as two leaves of the plant to risk death.
Experts have classed the plant as a one on the poison scale, with a secondary classification of three as a potential cause of severe dermatitis.
Gardeners recommend people remove the plant if they discover it in their gardens, and call a poison control centre or 999 if ingested.
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Despite its danger, lily of the valley remains popular thanks to its blossoms.
In the language of flowers, it symbolises trustworthiness, making it a regular feature in wedding bouquets.
The flower's wedding significance was picked up by another member of the Royal Family, Kate Middleton.
She featured the blossom in her bouquet when she married Prince William in 2011.
On the day, seasonal flowers played a significant role, as the future Duchess of Cambridge also chose trees which gardeners could later replant, lilacs and myrtle.
She also played into the language of flowers, a floral code popularised by Queen Victoria with her choices.
Her lilacs symbolised youthful innocence, myrtle signified hope and love, and hornbeams resilience.