The Fragrance Of Luxury

Floris Started Out Selling Fine Combs More Than 200 Years Ago Before It Became A Royal Perfumer.

- Hindol Sengupta

YOU MAY WELL HAVE heard that Floris, London’s premier perfumers since 1730, made a special fragrance for Meghan Markle when she got married to Prince Harry, sixth in line to the throne of England, but Edward Bodenham couldn’t possibly confirm or deny it. Quite like his ancestors have never confirmed nor denied that Queen Elizabeth II wore White Rose by Floris (supposedly because it reminded her of carnations, her favourite flower) for her wedding to Prince Philip in 1947.

I am sitting in the basement smelling room and office of Bodenham, perfumery director and ninth generation owner of the fragrance makers to royalty. To arrive at this room, one passes through the elongated shop floor at the entrance of the Floris building and then is guided to a slim door on the right hand corner of the room. The door leads down a series of stairs that opens to a wide room which is a cross between a medieval accountant’s warehouse and an equally old chemist’s laboratory. This is appropriate because, in fact, it is a room full of old leather-bound ledgers of customers of Floris over the centuries and vials of multi-coloured perfumes.

What Bodenham can confirm though is that they did make a perfume for the wedding of Kate Middleton, Markle’s sister-inlaw, when she got married to Prince William, second in line to the crown. Called the Wedding Bouquet, the fragrance that Bodenham sprays a little on smelling paper for me, is delicate and soothing, with top notes of lily of the valley. “It was in keeping with the mood of that occasion,” says Bodenham at the company’s storeand-offices at 89, Jermyn Street in London. “The mood of royal occa sions is very important to us.”

The perfume that Floris created for the Meghan-Harry wedding is rumoured to have notes of citrus, bergamot, orange blossom or neroli, green tea, and ginger, and is inspired by its Bergamotto di Positano eau de parfum.