Line #20 Main/EnglishRose


1	%% Image kept on page per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1500285100007417600
2	%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
3	%%
4	[[quoteright:236:[[Creator/AlbertHenryCollings https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/english_rose.jpg]] ]]
5	%%[[caption-width-right:246:caption text here]]
6
7	%%Please do not split this page into smaller indexes; individual sections are not long enough to justify a split, as discussed and confirmed in "Is this subpage too short?": Re-merging Project Long Term Projects.
8
9	->''"They were charming, especially the oldest, a blonde of eighteen, fresh as a flower, and very dainty and pretty! Ah, yes! The pretty Englishwomen have indeed the look of tender sea fruit. One would have said of this one that she had just risen out of the sands and that her hair had kept their tint. They all, with their exquisite freshness, make you think of the delicate colors of pink sea-shells and of shining pearls hidden in the unknown depths of the ocean."''
10	-->-- '''Narrator''' of Creator/GuyDeMaupassant's short story "The Wreck"
11
12	An English Rose is a nostalgic idea of a beautiful young English lady. She is virtuous and possesses a certain type of modest, natural beauty. This character is always of English breeding, and likely to speak in [[UsefulNotes/BritishAccents the RP accent]].
13
14	If from a historical period (and upper-class), she was raised to be a ProperLady. A modern specimen does not need to follow the full set of Proper Lady ideals but still has to be a NiceGirl: well-mannered and goodhearted.
15
16	An English Rose is often composed and dignified in any social setting. A major characteristic is her humility in terms of family and society. Her will can be iron-hard, [[SilkHidingSteel while seemingly subservient]]. Before marriage, she tends to be a [[SpiritedYoungLady more spirited version]], and if she marries, she doesn't necessarily lose that spirit. One of the charms of the English Rose may be her ability to maintain decorum and pleasure regardless of any trouble.
17
18	Regarding her looks, English Rose has a set of associated characteristics:
19	* Her figure, beauty, dress, and manners are modest and chaste rather than provocative or sexy.
20	* She is more on the petite side, and slender -- an English Rose can sometimes be a bit chubby but is never very tall (outside of modeling business use of the trope) or of very substantial build.
21	* She is fair-skinned, has a rosy glow to her cheeks rather than being eerily pale. Her complexion can be described as peachy pale or porcelain-like.
22	* Her hair can be of any shade as long as it isn't too exotic -- wavy, light brown, soft blonde, or auburn hair is most archetypal, as well as hairstyles more 'natural' and less fabricated than of her peers, but any moderate and understated hairstyle fitting the period fits the type.
23	* She has gentle eyes, that are almond-shaped or drooping rather than cat-like.[[note]]Following the stereotypes DroopyEyes = gentle, CattyEyes = active[[/note]]
24
25	There is no requirement for actresses portraying her to actually be English or even British. However, it's rare to find actresses playing these characters in English-language media (foreign productions are obviously another story) from outside the [[UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealthOfNations Old Commonwealth]] (minus UsefulNotes/{{Canada}}).
26
27	Compare with its sister tropes, YamatoNadeshiko from Japan, the "Bonne Belle" type of the SouthernBelle from southern USA, and CircassianBeauty from the Caucasus. Also compare TheHighQueen and the PrincessClassic. Contrast with TheLadette.
28
29	If the trope is PlayedStraight, she must be English. Englishness is defined by her origin and family background. English Roses from a FantasyCounterpartCulture and sci-fi futuristic versions are allowed: England might not exist in the setting, but if said land and culture are based on real-life England, associated character tropes may be used as well.
30
31	RealLife examples are unlikely because this trope requires knowledge about the woman's personal relationships with her family and acting for their benefit in society.
32
33	----
34	!!Examples:
35
36	[[folder: Anime and Manga]]
37	* ''Anime/BlackButler'': Elizabeth Middleford. She is English, and a NiceGirl by nature and hails from a noble family (she's cousins with the Phantomhives). She tends to dress in glitzy, gorgeous {{Fairytale Wedding Dress}}es and has an obsession with all things cute.
38	* ''Manga/EmmaAVictorianRomance'', written by self-confessed Anglophile Kaoru Mori, contains some great examples. For instance, there is demure, fair-haired beauty Eleanor Campbell (complete with IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy storyline).
39	%% ** Emma who is from the opposite end of the social-class spectrum than Eleanor. %%% If you add context to this zero-context example, please fix the example indentation as well.
40	* ''Anime/{{Georgie}}'': The titular Georgie is Aussie, but she discovers that she's of British descent. She goes on a RediscoveringRootsTrip to London and unravels the gridly political underbelly of England, with her and her brothers at the center. She is very pretty, with striking green eyes and long blonde hair, [[FeminineWomenCanCook knows how to cook]], [[TextileWorkIsFeminine can sew on a whim]] and attracts men like honey attracts flies. [[spoiler: The anime ends with Georgie becoming a ProperLady after finding the truth about her family]].
41	* ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'': Darjeeling is an [[InvokedTrope invoked example]] and represents England's national stereotype. She strives to present the look and behavior of an English Rose, despite being Japanese. She's a pale-skinned blonde with permed curls; and a polite, dignified ProperLady who loves her {{tea\|LovingBrits}}... while driving around in a Churchill tank!
42	* ''Manga/GoodbyeMyRoseGarden'': Alice Douglas is a pretty young English noblewoman in a story set at the beginning of the twentieth century. [[spoiler: She's a repressed lesbian during a time where any sort of deviation from the norm was social devastation, and Alice has become so self-loathing and so fearful of the idea of ruining her family's image that she has become suicidal. Her acting the part of a ProperLady is more of a mask than anything.]] Roses are used as FlowerMotifs everywhere in this manga, and many rose-centric metaphors and similes pop up, usually in [[TheTragicRose a melancholy context]]. Alice compares herself to a rose infected with black spot, then Hanako muses on how Alice's distant smile was like a rose shrinking from her touch, and Edward uses a metaphor about roses casting darker shadows when bathed in brighter light to sow doubt in Alice's heart about Hanako. In particular, Alice's rose garden is both a place where she can escape from the world and a reminder of how she must constantly hide her true self deep within her. Incidentally, the Douglas family manor is named Rosebarrow House.
43	* ''Anime/HelloSandybell'': [[spoiler:Linda]] has the typical markings of one -- she is from England, very pretty, chaste until marriage and a shy, demure soul by nature. Sandybell's father was instantly charmed upon seeing her and wanted to get married, but her father disapproved of him.
44	* ''Anime/ItazuraNaKiss'': Christine Robbins is high class, very ladylike, and with parents connected to British aristocracy. She is the [[UglyGuyHotWife Hot Wife]] to [[spoiler: Kinnosuke's Ugly Guy]], and in true YamatoNadeshiko fashion, is skilled at housework and domestic-related matters.
45	* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood'': Erina Pendleton is a [[GirlNextDoor sweet, fragile]] girl with not an ounce of violence in her body. After Johnathon Joestar beats up some boys who took her doll, they start going out, and he's warmed by her gentle nature. Dio tries to hurt his honour by forcefully kissing Erina, laughing about how he has "tainted" her, but this doesn't change a thing between them.
46	* ''Ladies Vs. Butlers'': One of the students at the academy, Selnia Flameheart, is British and very proud of her status as a member of the noble Flameheart family. She dresses like an {{Ojou}}, with a PimpedOutDress and drill-like hair that goes to her knees, and is hyper-competitive about being the best student.
47	* ''Manga/{{Lady}}'':
48	** Sarah Russell is Lynn's DelicateAndSickly older sister and the eldest daughter of Viscount Marble. Many characters remark on her beauty, and she's also skilled at playing the flute. She is much more ladylike and composed than her younger sister, but get on her bad side and she ''will'' shank you, illness be damned.
49	** Sarah's mother Frances also plays this straight - she was an elite her father met at his university's horse riding club, but she died in childbirth. Sarah wants to be just like her, and at times her CreepyChangingPainting is hung on also seems to look at her daughter mournfully.
50	* ''Anime/PrincessDiana'': The titular [[UsefulNotes/DianaPrincessOfWales Princess Diana]] is a cute, wide-eyed girl who descends from the Spencers, an ancient noble family, and ends up marrying the Prince of Wales.
51	* ''Anime/PrincessSarah'': Sarah Crew is the daughter of a wealthy British Captain and excels at everything at Miss Minchin's Academy, from reading to linguistics. The main reason Lavinia bullies her so much is because she's jealous of how perfect Sarah's life seems on the outside. Even after her father dies and she's humiliated and relegated to a PrincessInRags, Sarah refuses to stop acting ladylike, and continues to be a humble girl in the face of Lavinia and Miss Minchin's abuse.
52	* ''Anime/RemyNobodysGirl'': Mrs. Milligan is a beautiful lady who's a widow of Mr. Milligan, a wealthy English aristocrat. She always dresses exquisitely and is devoted to her son, Arthur. She refuses to marry after her husband's death and stays chaste, though [[spoiler: she adopts all the orphans at the end after finding out Remy is her long lost daughter]].
53	* ''Manga/StrawberryMarshmallow'': Ana, the series' resident TokenWhite amongst her Japanese castmates, is a beautiful Cornish girl with skin described as being "white as porcelain" and looking "like a porcelain doll", who comports herself properly at all times and is of a reserved, charmingly polite disposition. Nobue and the rest of the girls are instantly captivated and intrigued by her.
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder: Audio Play]]
57	* In the audio play ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'', Doctor's companion Charlotte "Charley" Elspeth Pollard was raised to become one, but said ScrewThisImOuttaHere as soon as she had the chance to. However, many of her traits fit perfectly. She has a hard time dealing with the fact she's not going to see her family ever again, she longs to become a mother, she speaks in the classic Received Pronunciation, Creator/JaneAusten is one of her favourite authors, and she's very much in love with the past and enjoys {{Gorgeous Period Dress}}es. She's a classy LadyOfAdventure and sees historical adventures as an excuse to put her endless etiquette lessons to good use. Occasionally referenced:
58	-->'''Keep:''' There's a tint to your skin.
59	-->'''Charley:''' [dripping with sarcasm] It's called English Rose.
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Film]]
63	* Creator/DeborahKerr, with her pale skin, big blue eyes, auburn hair, and refined manner, was pretty much the iconic English Rose for most of her career. It's a DiscussedTrope in ''Film/CountYourBlessings'', when Charles the Frenchman sees Grace for the first time and is bowled over.
64	-->'''Charles''': I love English girls. They're like spring flowers, tossed in a basket.
65	* ''Film/TheOtherBoleynGirl'' has the Tudor beauty Mary making an impression on the king.
66	-->'''Henry:''' You don't think he'll miss court? A young ambitious man.
67	-->'''Mary:''' He says not, Your Majesty. But if he ever changed his mind...as his wife, of course, I would do his bidding.
68	* The beautiful Truly Scrumptious from ''Film/ChittyChittyBangBang'' is the perfect Proper Lady, and is the daughter of a wealthy sweet factory owner, Lord Scrumptious. She's rather chilly to begin with but warms up a good deal as the film progresses. She is played by Sally Ann Howes who has the appropriate looks.
69	* [[HairOfGoldHeartOfGold Carol Marcus]] from ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'' provides an interesting "Rose-in-space", futuristic variation of this established trope, whilst still retaining the required character traits -- she's kind, demure ("turn around, please"), proper, loyal, has a strong moral sense and of course, she's beautiful.
70	* In ''Film/BitterMoon'', Fiona is a well-bred, prim and proper pale-skinned English woman, sailing with her husband to Istanbul and India. She's called pretty or lovely several times. Oscar says hers is a subtle brand of beauty with the inimitable British quality. He also makes a point of comparing her to provocatively seductive Mimi (who is Oscar's French wife). Fiona is very nice; for instance, she helps a messed-up, crying Mimi or she befriends a little Indian girl.
71	* ''Film/MrsMiniver'' has two English Roses from World War II setting. Both are pretty Englishwomen played by American actresses and both characters are connected to the symbolism of the rose.
72	** Kay Miniver is a dutiful, happy wife and a mother of three from the (upper-)middle class. Her husband Clem says she's even more beautiful than the time he married her. At the beginning of the film, Mrs. Miniver's old friend James Ballard asks her for permission to name his masterpiece, a rose he has cultivated, after her. Greer Garson who played her has fair ginger hair and white skin, and her look is emphasised by the black and white technicolor.
73	** Carol Beldon is a dainty little lady who comes from the most prominent family of the neighbourhood. She is [[TheCutie a cutie]] with ivory skin and dark hair. She's admired by everybody in the church and at the ball and she's nice to people of all social standings. Her GrandeDame of a grandmother Lady Beldon is famous for growing beautiful breeds of roses and always winning the local rose contest.
74	* Despite the fact that Creator/GraceKelly was from Philadelphia, she plays a proper, delicate, reserved, blonde English Rose in ''Film/{{Mogambo}}'', in a BettyAndVeronica pairing with the hard-partying, semi-slutty brunette character played by Ava Gardner.
75	* Evie from ''Film/TheMummyTrilogy'' is a very prim, sensible English Rose, and as she's played by Creator/RachelWeisz, she has exactly the right look.
76	* The titular character of ''Film/MaryPoppins'' is ladylike, well-mannered with a number of feminine talents, though she's a bit wacky in her capacity as a MagicalNanny (it comes from being "practically perfect in every way", of course). In the movie version, she was portrayed as a pretty brunette, played by Creator/JulieAndrews.
77	* ''Film/{{Hysteria\|2011}}'': Emily is the younger daughter of a widowed Doctor Dalrymple. She is a pretty, gentle, and dainty young woman with fair skin and dark hair. (She is played by Felicity Jones who has the right look). She knows her father depends on her help in his London household and she is a very obedient and affectionate daughter. Because of her father's expectations, she tries to fulfill the Victorian ideal of "angel of the house". Later, by the end of the film, she knows herself better and wants to be more her own person, but she is still a very nice girl, with the promise that she will be more cheerful and happy.
78	* Juliet Hulme as played by Creator/KateWinslet in ''Film/HeavenlyCreatures'' was specifically described as an English Rose in several reviews. Juliet is a NewTransferStudent from England who moved to New Zealand. She's beautiful, intelligent, born to a rich, glamorous and intellectual family. She has striking eyes, blond hair, peachy-pale complexion (made even paler and her cheeks rosier because of her tuberculosis), bee-stung lips, and visually she fits the archetype very well. She's attached to her parents, is seen playing with her little brother, and has an intense friendship with Pauline. She's occasionally too spirited and sometimes downright rude to teachers, which might be excused because she's a teenager, but later events subvert this trope entirely: [[spoiler: an English Rose can't be a murderer.]]
79	* ''Film/RRR2022'': Jenny stands in stark contrast to the rest of the Brits with significant screentime, who are snobby racists at best or violently {{Evil Colonialist}}s at worst. She's a classically pretty and feminine young woman with a high status (as the niece of the Governor of India), a sweet personality, and is NiceToTheWaiter and the Indians the British rule over.
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Literature]]
83	* ''Literature/AubreyMaturin'': Captain Jack Aubrey's eventual wife is the lovely blonde Sophie Williams. She really wants marriage with children and is a true Proper Lady, down to [[LieBackAndThinkOfEngland submissive mannerisms]].
84	* ''Literature/AuntDimity'': "A somewhat distant and distaff twig of the [Penford] family tree, but a twig nonetheless", Susannah Ashley-Woods was a fashion model known as "Ashers, the English Rose", effectively trading on this trope. Not that she quite lives up to the ideal; explaining her ill-manners, the duke says of her, "She was raised by wolves, you know." It is only after she's assaulted by a hero-worshipping housemaid that she reverts to the good manners associated with this trope.
85	* ''Literature/TheEssexSerpent'': Stella Ransome, the lovely and sweet wife of priest William Ransome and mother of three, who all live in the village of Aldwinter in an Essex parish. Stella is blue-eyed with blond hair, very beautiful and petite (she's described as "no bigger than a fairy and twice as pretty"), and she's also warm and radiant. She loves collecting and pressing wild blue flowers, she often wears blue clothes and becomes obsessed with the colour blue and blue things in general. [[spoiler:She's gradually consumed by tuberculosis and]] her fair, pale skin becomes almost translucent.
86	* ''Literature/FlowerFairies'': The wild rose fairy from ''The Fairies of the Summer'' is specifically called the English rose. She's drawn as a beautiful regal-looking girl with blond hair, fair skin with rosy cheeks and she's dressed in a pink dress. She also has pink butterfly-like wings. One line from the poem is "my buds are rosy as a baby’s cheek".
87	-->''I am the queen whom everybody knows\
88	I am the English Rose;\
89	As light and free as any Jenny Wren,\
90	As dear to Englishmen;''
91	* ''Literature/ForeignAffairs1984'': Fred regards Rosemary, the actress that he starts an affair with, as "delicately pretty with what he recognized as a typical English prettiness." She's further described as being round-faced with "creamy white skin" and "tumbling flaxen curls." Rosemary gets a lot of work playing English Roses on British TV. (Fred's an American so this may heighten the attraction.)
92	* ''Literature/TheGhostWriter'': Gerard Freeman imagines his English pen-girlfriend Alice Jessell as a voluptuous and seductive pre-Raphaelite beauty with milky skin and cascades of coppery hair. Ultimately subverted in reality with her true form that [[spoiler:includes tropes FacialHorror, BaldOfEvil, and OurGhostsAreDifferent.]]
93	* ''Literature/TheInfernalDevices'': Tessa Gray is a New Yorker who travels to VictorianLondon, and she describes Jessamine Lovelace as one. Jessamine strives to be a Proper Lady and has many lady-like attributes (like her ParasolOfPrettiness), but ultimately she fails to be a straight example because she's something of a SpoiledBrat.
94	* Creator/JaneAusten has quite a few:
95	** ''Literature/{{Emma}}'': Jane Fairfax is a beautiful, intelligent, accomplished and gentle young woman, and she seems to be admired by virtually everybody. She has dark hair, deep grey eyes, dark eyelashes and eyebrows, and her complexion is fair, smooth, and delicate without being pale. She's rather tall, and her figure is graceful and elegant. Unfortunately, Jane has shattered health, so she lacks the rosy cheeks. Emma herself also thinks she should be friendlier, livelier, and little less proper in her {{Proper Lady}}-like behaviour.
96	** ''Literature/LadySusan'': Frederica Vernon is a very pretty young girl with delicate complexion, a pleasant oval face, mild dark eyes, and "peculiar sweetness in her look". Her abusive mother Lady Susan tells lies about her, so her aunt and uncle expect Frederica to be uncultured, uneducated, and amoral. They are pleasantly surprised to find that Frederica is very timid and shy, and a major {{Bookworm}} and FriendToAllChildren. Here is a sentence about Frederica from her aunt's letter:
97	--->''"There cannot be a more gentle, affectionate heart; or more obliging manners when acting without restraint; and her little cousins are all very fond of her."''
98	** ''Literature/MansfieldPark'': Fanny Price is a timid and quiet girl, and people at the Park don't value her much when she's little, but she's a very patient companion to her idle aunt. She blooms fully when her cousin Maria gets married and cousin Julia leaves with her. Fanny grows into a very pretty girl with light-coloured eyes and a sweet smile, and she blushes frequently. She loves her brother William and she's a great comfort to her sister Susan as both girls are [[TheUnfavourite unfavourite]] for their parents.
99	** ''Literature/NorthangerAbbey'': Eleanor Tilney is General Tilney's daughter and a perfect example from the English country gentry. She's a long-suffering beautiful girl who lost her mother very young and has only her difficult father for a companion. She likes her brother Henry and is a kind friend to the novel's heroine Catherine Morland. She's also put in contrast with Catherine's first friend Isabella Thorpe who is beautiful but extremely shallow.
100	** ''Literature/{{Persuasion}}'': Miss Anne Elliot, although it appears she has lost her bloom, but she regains her appeal in the course of the novel. She's gentle, affectionate with an elegant mind and desire to help everybody. She has delicate features and mild dark eyes, and she's described as an elegant little woman. She's contrasted with her handsome sister Elizabeth who is a more striking beauty, but very haughty and unkind.
101	** ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'': Elizabeth's sister Jane Bennet is a kind, polite, well-mannered, and beautiful lady from the English country gentry. Jane is considered the most beautiful young woman in the neighbourhood. Her character is contrasted with Elizabeth's as sweeter, shyer, and equally sensible, but not as clever; her most notable trait is a desire to see only the good in others.
102	** ''Literature/SenseAndSensibility'': Elinor Dashwood is TheReliableOne of her family despite being only nineteen. She's very pretty, though her sister Marianne is thought to be the prettiest, Marianne is also slightly darker and her beauty is of the exotic kind. Elinor is fair and has the appropriate looks, and her calm and dignified personality makes her fit perfectly. Elinor's mother and sisters think she's too calm and that she should be a bit more emotional, but her NotSoStoic moments show she has lots of true and deep feelings.
103	* ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'': The daughter of a clergyman, Arabella Strange is a charming, intelligent, caring, and humorous English young woman. She's pale-skinned, petite, and always modestly dressed. She's good-looking, too, but with a TrueBeautyIsOnTheInside catch, as she's described as "moderately pretty" rather than beautiful - but her good humour and vivacity make her incredibly attractive to those around her.
104	* ''Literature/{{Middlemarch}}'': All three main female characters are subversions:
105	** Rosamond was raised (and generally accepted) to be an archetypal English Rose: beautiful, gentle and chaste--when inwardly she's shallow and selfish.
106	** Mary Garth is perfectly honourable, sensible and well-mannered, but she's also generally regarded as quite plain in terms of her looks.
107	** Dorothea is the one that comes closest to playing this trope straight, as she's at once beautiful, incredibly modest in both senses of the word, and a seriously good person; but she is a bit too "fervent" in her beliefs and ideals, and a bit too interested in "manly affairs" (such as managing her land, or science and learning) to be considered a completely decent lady in 19th century England.
108	* ''Literature/TheMurderOfRogerAckroyd'' by Creator/AgathaChristie: Flora is described as blonde and blue-eyed with a pale complexion, as beautiful, and as a typical English girl.
109	* ''Literature/TheOtherBoleynGirl'' is even more overt than the film in its portrayal of Mary as English Rose. This is justified, however, as it's an image that she deliberately cultivates to catch the king's eye. When calling her out on this, Anne describes Mary as "sweet and open and English and fair", and Henry VIII himself refers to her as "my little English rose".
110	* ''Literature/TheRoyalDiaries'': In ''Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor'', Henry VIII of England chastises Prince Edward for being lazy while the girls work hard on the rose bushes. Princess Elizabeth is quick to respectfully tell her father that she thinks that Edward's humors were out of balance. For that kindness, the king tenderly tells the princess that she was "the true Tudor rose".
111	* ''Literature/ToSayNothingOfTheDog'': Ned, a 21st-century time-traveling historian in the Victorian era, describes one: "She was like a delicate blossom, capable of growing only in a single time, adapted only to the select hothouse environment of the late Victorian era: the untouched flower, the blooming English rose, the angel in the house." [[spoiler:It was Verity, another time-traveling historian.]]
112	* ''Literature/TheScholomance'': El's mother, Gwen, is described by El herself as an English rose aging gracefully towards middle age--still golden-haired and rosy-cheeked, but gaining a bit of [[BigBeautifulWoman charming plumpness]] that suits her kind and helpful personality.
113	* ''Literature/ShadesOfMilkAndHoney'': The heroine Jane is a very proper English lady. Her younger sister Melody is prettier, but also more spirited, and maybe a tad bit too spirited to fit the trope. At one point in the story, Jane even wears a dress decorated with roses.
114	* ''Literature/WivesAndDaughters'': Molly Gibson is a beloved daughter of an English country doctor. She's a kindhearted girl who loves her father, their neighbours, and friends. Molly gets attached to Mrs Hamley who embraces her almost like a daughter, and later she becomes really close to her stepsister Cynthia. Molly's complexion is first described as colourless, and when she grows up, it's tanned because she loves being outdoors. Her stepmother tries to get her to use rosemary washes and creams in order to lighten her tanned skin, and later the narrator occasionally describes Molly's complexion as cream-coloured. She has plentiful curly black hair and long, almond-shaped, soft gray eyes with curling black eyelashes, and she has a shy, loving expression. She has a slight, lean figure, promising to be tall. When she dresses up, especially for balls, Molly looks really beautiful.
115	* "The Wreck", by Creator/GuyDeMaupassant: The narrator is an older Frenchman who reflects on his acquaintance with a pretty Englishwoman with whom he has been corresponding his whole life since they met (20 years ago on [[NewYearHasCome New Year's Eve]]). She was a sandy-haired, dainty young girl of eighteen who was travelling with her father and two younger sisters. He worked as an inspector of the Maritime Insurance Company and they met on a wrecked ship. They nearly died because as they were strolling on the wreck, the tide swept the ship back on sea. The narrator says she was the only woman he has ever loved, and she became a lost ideal he cannot have. She got married and the narrator says they write to each other every New Year's Day. She writes about her life, her sisters, and her children, but he only ever writes about their encounter.
116	[[/folder]]
117
118	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
119	* ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'': Daphne is portrayed as the ideal English beauty, with porcelain skin, fair hair, and a slender figure. As the daughter of a viscount she has been raised as a ProperLady. This is [[AdaptationalAttractiveness a notable deviation]] from [[Literature/TheBridgertonSeries her book counterpart]], who was specifically an unconventional beauty for Regency England.
120	* In ''Series/{{Broadchurch}}'', as part of a bid to sell the story to her boss, a journalist describes grieving mother Beth Lattimer as "a real English Rose" to attract readers. In many ways, it's a deliberately InvokedTrope as the journalist plays up the portrayal of Beth as a demure and tragic young mother in her article (when in actuality, Beth and her grieving process are considerably more complex) and asks the family for a photo to better showcase Beth's English Rose appearance: fair skin, dark hair, petite frame, and classic beauty.
121	* ''Series/{{Cranford}}'': Cranford is a fictional village in the county of Cheshire in North West England.
122	** Sophy Hutton. She's pretty, blonde, pale-skinned, a LoveInterest for the series' hero Doctor Harrison and is very helpful to her widowed father who is the village reverend. She takes care of her three younger siblings.
123	** Miss Matty is an English Rose who aged gracefully. She was very pretty when she was young and people say her most striking feature was her complexion. She was very devoted to her family and actually never married because her family needed her support and didn't approve of her suitor. Yet she remained faithful to him and never loved anybody else.
124	* ''Series/TheCrown2016'':
125	** Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Head of the Commonwealth. She grew up in a loving family that never expected her to become the monarch. She's a porcelain-skinned, petite young woman with rich brown hair and blue eyes who possesses a gentle demeanor and iron will.
126	** Diana, Princess of Wales is a definitive, celebrated example, due to her natural grace and delicate beauty, and it's even name-dropped when she starts wilting from the heat in Australia. Her actress Creator/EmmaCorrin was labeled as such in the October 2020 issue of ''British Vogue.''
127	* In ''Series/DeadGorgeous'', Sophie, the middle sister of three daughters born to English gentry in colonial Australia, best fits this description, both in appearance (she is blonde and paler than her two brunette sisters) and temperament. Rebecca is prettier but is vain and a social climber, and Hazel enthusiastically embraces all of the opportunities the 21st century offers girls. Sophie, however, misses the social niceties of the 19th century and attempts to hang on to them by doing things such as establishing a book club to discuss the novels of Creator/JaneAusten. She is demure and soft-spoken, but not afraid to stand up for what she believes in, and is kind to all, even those who are mean to her. She also prefers the fashions of her home time to the modern ones, unlike her sisters.
128	* ''Series/DempseyAndMakepeace'': [[GentlemanDetective Detective Sergeant Lady Harriet "Harry" Makepeace]] fits this to a T, with her short but feminine fair hair, rosy cheeks and slender figure, likewise (unless undercover) her dress sense tends to the elegant and chaste. Being the daughter of a Lord, she likewise possesses a full classical education and proper manners (although [[CowboyCop Dempsey]] can push her to her breaking point). She is humble, courteous, intelligent and can [[SilkHidingSteel also beat the hell out murderous gangsters twice her size without breaking a sweat]].
129	* One obvious English Rose isn't English -- or even human. The first Romana, of ''Series/DoctorWho'' fame, was imperious and arrogant (if also highly capable), but her second regeneration fits this trope perfectly. Played by Creator/LallaWard, she was refined, composed, soft-spoken, but also brilliant and strong-willed.
130	* Several examples from ''Series/DowntonAbbey''.
131	** All three of the Crawley sisters are more or less raised to be English Roses, and all of them have the classic English Rose look. However, each has something keeping her from being perfect examples of the trope, in a manner indicating SpiritedYoungLady.
132	*** Lady Mary is perhaps the "classic" Rose, having both the aspirations and appearance of a traditional young English aristocratic woman, but she has an ambitious streak, can be an unapologetic snob, is sometimes quite cruel, and is quite the contrarian.
133	*** Lady Edith is energetic and almost tragically naive at times but also suffers from a fairly bad case of MiddleChildSyndrome. (She's also not nearly as good-looking as her sisters.)
134	*** Lady Sybil possibly fits closest of all, given her genuinely good nature, naturally beautiful looks, and strong moral sense. However, her decision to marry the (socialist and Irish Nationalist) chauffeur Tom Branson puts her very firmly in the SpiritedYoungLady category.
135	** Lavinia Swire is a young English woman. She's sweet-natured, gentle, naturally beautiful... [[spoiler: [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth and has a tragic, Victorian-heroine style deathbed scene.]]]]
136	** Young debutante Madeleine Allsopp from the series 4 Christmas Special. She's a petite, fair-skinned, demure little beauty and shows good character and a strong moral sense when she refuses to play along with her impoverished father's schemes when he crassly pushes her onto the wealthy Harold Levinson.
137	* ''Series/Dynasty1981'': Amanda Carrington, who was undoubtedly created to capitalise on the Princess Diana phenomenon that was reaching fever-pitch in the US by the time of her arrival in the series (1984). As well as having a look of Diana (she's portrayed her twice before), for added prestige, actress Catherine Oxenberg is a cousin of the British Royal Family through her mother, Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia. In appearance, Amanda is a beautiful, composed young Englishwoman with a crisp RP accent, refined features and big, Sloane-ranger hair. In personality, whilst she can be a bit of a princess, she's fundamentally a sweet, good-hearted character -- unlike her mother, the series' infamous EvilBrit, Alexis. Averted with Karen Cellini's later portrayal.
138	* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Emily Waltham played by Helen Baxendale, Ross's girlfriend from London. She's a beautiful young woman with fair skin and dark hair and dark eyes. Initially, she's sweet, caring and she and Ross seem like a perfect match. They want to get married, but both want to stay in their homeland because they have strong ties with their family and friends. After Ross accidentally says "I take thee, Rachel" instead of "I take thee, Emily", she becomes very jealous but who can blame her.
139	* ''Series/TheLastKingdom'': [=Æthelflæd=] of the Kingdom of Wessex is an Anglo-Saxon princess, the beloved daughter of King Alfred who dreams of uniting the separate kingdoms of England. She's beautiful, strong, brave and intelligent with a keen sense of authority. She has dark hair and very fair skin with pink undertones -- her own name means "noble beauty" in the Anglo-Saxon tongue. She's married to Lord [=Æthelred=] of Mercia. Eventually, the Mercians respect her more than her husband and she's growing into the [[LadyOfWar warrior queen]] archetype.
140	* Anna Fulford from ''Series/MurdochMysteries'' is a young English woman who comes from Bristol, a pretty pale-skinned blonde with big dark-brown eyes. She's the owner of a pub she inherited from her deceased father. She's sweet, kind and lively. She intuitively recognizes that Detective Murdoch is a good man, even though he's pursued by the police or roguish agents, and she decides to help him and later becomes his LoveInterest (though she's ultimately not the woman he ends up with).
141	* ''Series/RippingYarns'', parodies of quintessential genres of British literature:
142	** Dora in "Murder at Moorstones Manor". She's Hugo's endearingly innocent fiancée. Hugo is the eldest son, obsessed with cars, and viewed as the loony of the Chiddingfold family. Dora is a pretty young woman, fair-skinned with blue eyes and brown hair. When long-suffering Dora asks Hugo to choose between herself and his car, he chooses the car and then leaves her at the moor. In the middle of the night, Dora reaches Moorstones Manor, exhausted and in a terrible state. Both Sir Clive and his son Hugo have been murdered. Dora surprises everyone, claiming she can take care of herself and that she's not the demure little girl and Lady Chiddingfold's idiot son's fiancée they expected her to be. She claims she shot them both as revenge for having had to bear Hugo for six years. Several other people take credit for those murders as well.
143	** Lady Agatha, Kevin's childhood sweetheart and his lovely wife from "The Curse of the Claw". She's a pretty girl, living next door to Kevin in Cheltenham, England. She's first seen as a child wearing a white dress and a pretty hat, holding a basket with flowers and enthusiastically waving to Kevin from her garden. Older Kevin mourns her death, reminiscing about her kindness, loveliness, and beauty. Grosvenor, Kevin's manservant, acknowledges her beauty, too, with some indecent comments about her body, much to Keven's embarrassment and discomfort.
144	--->'''Kevin:''' [She was] such a kind creature. Not a trace of guile or malice ever crossed her pretty face.
145	** Miranda in "Roger of the Raj". Roger is a son of obscenely rich English aristocrats, later residing in India. The honourable Miranda is his equally noble and equally rich lovely girlfriend, with large eyes, classically chiselled features, and a fair complexion. She proves her worth and determination when she saves Kevin from the shoot out of the revolting British soldiers and Mr Hopper, Roger's communist teacher who tries "to found a socialist state, with centralised ownership of capital to be used for the benefit of all".
146	* In ''Series/SecretDiaryOfACallGirl'' (season 4, episode 5), this trope is referenced when HighClassCallGirl Belle puts an ad on her website "Call now for a classic English Rose" while she's staying in New York. She sure can fulfill this dream of meeting a classy, petite, fair-skinned, and fair-haired English girl to her American customers. And even though as Hannah (her normal, civil self), she is definitely a nice girl and very intelligent, her job as a call girl and her glamorous, sexy appearance move her very far from the ideal of wholesome beauty.
147	* Nikki Alexander from ''Series/SilentWitness'' (portrayed by Creator/EmiliaFox, who tends to play this type of character a lot). Although Nikki was born in South Africa, she's lived in England for most of her life and has an English accent. She's usually well-spoken and polite, but with an [[SilkHidingSteel underlying steeliness]]. Whilst she dresses somewhat glamorously at times, her style is usually pretty modest. She's classically beautiful and about average height (though she looks taller due to wearing heels a lot), and generally has an air of gentleness and demurity about her.
148	* Liz Grainger from ''Series/WishMeLuck''. She's English, and a pretty (but not too pretty) well-bred, upper-class young woman who is also courageous, principled and willing to [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII serve her country.]]
149	[[/folder]]
150
151	[[folder:Music]]
152	* Song "Rose of England" by Music/ChrisDeBurgh is about an English Rose of RoyalBlood who is lovely, fine, sweet, and fair. She loves a man who is not her equal. When she becomes Queen, she weds her country and is no longer a mistress of her heart.
153	* The trope is briefly mentioned in the song "Portobello Belle" by Music/DireStraits. The song is about a modern girl walking through the market on Portobello Road:
154	-->''"She thinks she's tough / She ain't no English rose..."''
155	* "English Rose" by Music/TheJam is about the protagonist's desire to return to see and to be with the titular woman.
156	* At Princess Diana's funeral, Music/EltonJohn sang a special version of "Candle in the Wind" in honor of her, beginning with the words "Goodbye, England's Rose..."
157	* Music/NickLowe sang about an adolescent boy who was taken by a rose-like girl in the song "The Rose of England".
158	[[/folder]]
159
160	[[folder:Roleplay]]
161	* Appearance-wise, [[MeaningfulName Rosabella Linden]] in ''My Superhero Academy V3: Reassembled'' fits this trope to a T--petite, fair-skinned, and long blonde hair. Personality-wise, however, she's [[IceQueen very much a subversion]].
162	[[/folder]]
163
164	[[folder:Theater]]
165	* Phoebe D'Ysquith in ''Theatre/AGentlemansGuideToLoveAndMurder'' is a parody of this trope. She is a young woman from one of England's most distinguished BlueBlood families, and her LoveInterest Monty is attracted to how "noble and pious" she is.
166	* ''Theatre/AnIdealHusband'' by Creator/OscarWilde: Mabel Chiltern is in the script described as a perfect example of the English prettiness and is compared to a flower and classically beautiful statue. She's more spirited and rebellious than her innocent, dainty appearance may lead one to believe.
167	-->''"Mabel Chiltern is a perfect example of the English type of prettiness, the apple-blossom type. She has all the fragrance and freedom of a flower. There is ripple after ripple of sunlight in her hair, and the little mouth, with its parted lips, is expectant, like the mouth of a child. She has the fascinating tyranny of youth and the astonishing courage of innocence. To sane people, she is not reminiscent of any work of art. But she is really like a Tanagra statuette, and would be rather annoyed if she were told so."''
168	* Spoofed in the Creator/GilbertAndSullivan light opera ''Theatre/UtopiaLimited''. Two South Seas princesses are being raised by their English governess to be properly modest and retiring English roses until the visiting "Imported Flowers of Progress" assure them that the English fashion is quite different nowadays:
169	-->''"A wonderful joy our eyes to bless, \
170	In her magnificent comeliness, \
171	Is an English girl of eleven stone two,[[note]]156 pounds, or 71 kg[[/note]] \
172	And five foot ten in her dancing shoe!"''
173	[[/folder]]
174
175	[[folder:Video Games]]
176	* Evie Frye from ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate'' fits well, whilst combining it with several traits from LadyOfWar via her role as a deadly assassin and master markswoman. In appearance, she's a slender, petite young Londoner with freckled, rosy cheeks, and sports a PrimAndProperBun of chestnut hair. In character, she is calm, no-nonsense and is able to hold herself in any situation with a good deal of grace, despite the mayhem surrounding her.
177	* ''VideoGame/AzurLane'': A few of the British shipgirls have some traits of this, but none embody English genteel elegance and grace within the Royal Navy like H.M.S. Hood. She really has the aesthetic and the attitude down pat.
178	* An example from a dark game would be the protagonist Jennifer from the disturbingly creepy ''VideoGame/RuleOfRose'', a videogame which presents the intriguing concept of a classic English Rose forced into a ''Franchise/ResidentEvil''-style survival horror environment. Jennifer is a timid, fair, softly-spoken young English woman who seems weak and can be easily pushed about and ordered by others, although this is understandable considering the [[MindScrew situation]] she is forced in. However, she is actually very determined and loyal, being able to endure the bullying and punishments. In this regard, she can be viewed as a [[SilkHidingSteel strong]] character.
179	* There are two examples from the ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' series:
180	** Cammy White shows what happens to an English Rose when you mix her with ActionGirl and MsFanservice. You'd never think of it if you judged her only by her VERY fanservice-y looks, but her serious personality and her devotion to her TrueCompanions have more than a whiff of this archetype. She even has [[UsefulNotes/BritishAccents the RP accent]], especially in the later games. "Cammy White" (Camilla = "priestess", White = the colour of purity) is also an archetypal English Rose name.
181	** Julia, one of the "judgement girls" from ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII'', is the daughter of a wealthy English industrialist and a member of the "Young Ladies of the World" club. She is of an earnest disposition, and with her neat blonde hair and smart red riding clothes, she looks the part of a proper young English lady all set for the hunt.
182	* Luserina Barows from ''VideoGame/SuikodenV''. She's not actually English (the series is set in a MedievalEuropeanFantasy land), but her hometown of Rainwall is basically the in-series equivalent of an English town and she is the [[BlueBlood Squire's daughter]]. In terms of personality and looks, she fits the bill perfectly, being sweet, kind, well-mannered, and elegant, with flowing fair hair and a demure, pretty look. She also exhibits a good deal of SilkHidingSteel qualities and is found to be running the place and keeping morale high during the events of the game.
183	* Queen Anora Theirin (nee Mac Tir) from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' is the wife of King Cailan of Ferelden, a clear FantasyCounterpartCulture to medieval England. She is defined by her poise, intelligence, education, and political aptitude, while conforming to the English Rose's traditional ideals of femininity -- emotional control and willingness to stay out of the spotlight.
184	[[/folder]]
185

Context Main / EnglishRose