Website/Catalog  (27 Jul 2011)  Includes photo(s).
 
Rosa ‘Prince Albert’
Bourbon rose, actually a cross between ‘Gloire de Romenè’, a Bourbon, and a Damask China.  It produces clusters of scarlet-crimson flowers, medium size, very double, of compact form.  A shrub of moderate growth with short, stiff shoots, useful as a bedding rose.  By all contemporary accounts a beautiful rose.  [Paul (1848, 1863, 1888), Rivers (1854, 1857, 1863), FC p.305/1856, BF pl.15/1841].
 
Horticultural & Botanical History
Raised by Laffay at Fontenay aux Roses, near Paris, and introduced to Britain by William Paul.  Paul (1848) classified a rose of this name as a Hybrid Perpetual.  I believe it to be Laffay’s rose.  It has an interesting history, with concern expressed in the Belgian publication Flore des Serres that it is identical to ‘Souvenir de la Reine des Belges.’  Louis van Houtte consulted Laffay who wrote to the journal on the 5th of October, 1851, agreeing that there was an extreme resemblance to his seedling ‘Prince Albert’.  He closes by saying: ‘Enfin, Monsieur, je n’ai pas voulu en greffer un seul rameau pour l’an prochain, persuadé que cette variété n’est que le produit d’une erreur.’  (‘Finally, Monsieur, I have not wanted to graft a single branch for the next year, persuaded that this variety is nothing but a product of error.’)  ‘Prince Albert’ was figured later in the same volume of Flore des Serres.  [FS misc. 574/1853, FS f.808/1853].
  
History at Camden Park
Arrived from Veitch’s Nursery, Chelsea on Dec, 31st, 1859 on board the ‘Hollinside’ but dead on arrival.  For more detail see Rosa ‘Ducher’.
 
Notes
Not surprisingly at least two roses of this name were grown in the early to mid 19th century.  An earlier rose by this name, a Hybrid China, was described by William Paul in the first edition of The Rose Garden.  He described its flowers as a delicate pink, the petals closely and elegantly arranged, of medium size, compact, perfect, a beautiful rose but rather undersize.  It was raised at Brenchly in Kent.  [Paul 1848].
 

Book  (Dec 2000)  Page(s) 274.  
 
Prince Albert
Hybrid Perpetual
Jean Laffay [w/Rivers] 1837

Book  (Jun 1992)  Page(s) 191.  
 
Prince Albert
Hybrid Perpetual
Laffay, 1837
From 'Gloire des Rosomanes' (B) x a Damask Perpetual
... Color changing from pink to pansy purple and crimson... color varying from pink to dark violet... Uncertain out of doors, but a good forcing Rose... unique scent... cold changes color to a shade of carmine which is rather towards violet... it has four bloom-periods... Thorns rare... Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 1819-1861; husband of Queen Victoria of England.

Book  (1936)  Page(s) 10.  
 
Albert, Prince (HP or bourbon) Laffay 1841; dark purple, shaded carmine, large, double, firm, fragrance 7/10, growth 8/10. = Futur Emp. des Français; Reine des Belges.

Book  (1936)  Page(s) Annex, p. 109.  
 
hybrid perpetual, Prince Albert, dark purple, shaded carmine, violet in autumn, large, full, compact, fragrant.

Book  (1936)  Page(s) 238.  
 
Empereur des Français, Le futur (bourbon) ? ? ; carmine.

Magazine  (Jun 1907)  Page(s) 239-240.  
 
Dans une longue liste de Rosiers, de la collection V. Verdier, de Paris, Victor Paquet, dans le cahier de septembre 1842 de la Revue horticole, énumère un grand nombre de variétés de Rosiers, classées dans les sections connues à cette époque. Parmi ces sections figurent les Hybrides incer taines, les Hybrides de Bengale (non remontants), les Hybrides de Noisette (non remontants), les Hybrides de l’Ile-Bourbon (non remontants). Puis des :....
Variétés ayant des rapports aux Hybrides de Bengale et aux Portlands. — Aubernon, moy. ou gr. pl. rose vif. — Augustine Mouchelet, moy. tr. pl. bien faite rose violacé carminé au centre. — Comte de Paris, grande pleine rouge violacé souvent strié. — Duchesse de Sutterland, moy. ou gr. tr. mult. carné. — Fulgorie, moy. ou gr. pl. rouge vif. — Lady Fordwich, moy. pl. rouge. — Madame Laffay, gr. pl. rouge clair. — Mélanie Cornu, moy. ou gr. tr. pl. rouge vif. —Pauline Plantier, moy. ou gr. pleine rose clair. — Prince Albert, moy. ou gr. tr. pl. couleur variable du rose au violet foncé. — Princesse Hélène, gr. tr. mult. ou pl. rouge pourpre clair. — Reine de la Gulllotière, moy. tr. pl. rouge vif à bords plus clairs. — Reine Victoria, moy. ou gr. presq. pl. rouge clair. — Sisley, mov. ou gr. pl. cerise violacé vif.

Magazine  (1902)  Page(s) 509.  
 
Prince Albert ...Futur Empereur des Français

Book  (1899)  Page(s) 147.  
 
Prince Albert, HR, Laffay, 1841, pourpre

Book  (1899)  Page(s) 97.  
 
Le futur empereur des Français, Bourbon, carmin