The Royal Sovereign is a
strawberry cultivar. It is one of the oldest varieties still widely grown.
History
The cultivar was created by
Thomas Laxton
Thomas Laxton (1830 – 6 August 1893) was a plant breeder and a correspondent of Charles Darwin, best known for his hybridisation of peas.
Thomas Laxton was born in the village of Tinwell, Rutland in 1830. He practised as a solicitor in Stam ...
in Tinwell, near
Stamford, Lincolnshire
Stamford is a town and civil parish in the South Kesteven District of Lincolnshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 19,701 and estimated at 20,645 in 2019. The town has 17th- and 18th-century stone buildings, older timber-framed ...
, in 1892. Throughout the 19th Century, botanists had been trying to create larger, sweeter varieties of strawberries. Laxton's 'Royal Sovereign' was one of the most successful, combining European flavour with American robustness.
'Royal Sovereign' was at the pinnacle of its popularity between the 1920s and the 1960s.
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
of the UK was served the variety at her
coronation
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the presentation of ot ...
banquet. In the latter 20th Century, older strawberry cultivars fell out of favour commercially, displaced by modern varieties with longer shelf-lives, higher fruit yields and a better resistance to modern methods of transportation. Despite this, the variety is still highly prized amongst strawberry aficionados, and is still grown in small-scale cultivation, where flavour can take more precedence over yield quantity. The variety is still purchasable from specialist nurseries.
In 2012, Elizabeth II was served the variety again when a special crop was grown as a gift from Britain's
soft fruit
A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, rasp ...
gardeners.
The horticulturalist
Beatrix Havergal won fifteen golds for her exhibition of 'Royal Sovereign' at the
Chelsea Flower Show.
Characteristics
'Royal Sovereign', like many older cultivars, has a softer texture than most modern varieties. The flesh is bright orange-pink to scarlet. The cultivar is high in juice and is very sweet in taste.
[''The Cookery Year'' (1973) London: The Reader's Digest Association Ltd. p.13]
Plants typically produce around 7–12 oz of fruit per plant.
References
{{reflist
External links
Telegraph. Accessed 18/04/17
Strawberry cultivars