Lancaster badges.

The gold rose insignia of Edward I of England inspired the Red Rose of Lancaster. Other members of his family wore variations of the royal emblem, including the Earl of Lancaster, the king’s brother, who wore a red rose. During the Wars of the Roses, the Red Rose of Lancaster is thought to have been the House of Lancaster’s emblem. Land tenure documents mandating the annual service of a red rose for a manor held directly from Henry VI of England provide evidence for this “wearing of the rose.” However, there are questions about whether the red rose was actually adopted as a Lancastrian symbol during the Wars of the Roses.Adrian Ailes has noted that the red rose “probably owes its popular usage to Henry VII quickly responding to the pre-existing Yorkist white rose in an age when signs and symbols could speak louder than words.”It also allowed Henry to create and use his most famous heraldic device, the Tudor Rose, which was created by uniting the so-called Lancastrian red rose with the White Rose of York. This floral union perfectly symbolised the restoration of peace and concord, as well as his marriage to Elizabeth of York in January 1486. It was a superb example of heraldic propaganda at its most basic. The Tudor Rose is the national flower of England (Scotland uses the thistle, Ireland uses the shamrock, and Wales uses the leek).