Crown Princess Mary of Denmark connects with the National Rose Garden at Woolmers

Crown Princess Mary of Denmark connects with the National Rose Garden at Woolmers - (reads the headline in my head). And the story goes something like this - Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, now visiting family in Hobart, has a connection with one of the roses in our Rose Garden at Woolmers near Longford in the state's north.

Ha! (Do I hear you say?) That's a pretty tenuous connection. I admit it does smack of the old saying "I danced with the man who danced with the girl who danced with the Prince of Wales!"

But wait! It gets even more slender!

Our rose is called 'Crown Princess Margareta' and it's a popular David Austin Rose with a strong tea-rose fragrance and it was named for a much loved lady who was called 'the Flower Princess'. She was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria and as a young woman met and fell in love with Prince Gustav Adolf of Sweden. The couple (in between producing five children) designed and created one of the most beautiful gardens in Scandanavia around their castle at Helsingborg, which belongs to the people of Sweden to this day.

And - here's the connection!

The present royal families of Sweden and Denmark are the grandchildren and great grandchildren of that Crown Princess Margareta. Our very own Mary Donaldson has married into the royal family descended from the Crown Princess Margareta. And now she's expecting twins - in case you live on Mars and don't know this important fact yet!

This rose is just one of the reasons why you should visit the National Rose Garden at Woolmers, when it's in bloom and there are millions of others (roses that is - all providing you with millions of reasons to visit). All these roses will be in glorious bloom in a matter of weeks - from the end of October in fact.

P.S. I can come up with even more tenuous links between roses and royalty - just watch this space!