THEY WERE TWO DISTINCTLY different men, and each came to be symbolised by a different flower: Oscar, the green carnation, and Robert the fleurde-lys. Their lives and careers took different paths but, in common, their homosexuality shaped their destinies and influenced the conventions and values of the 20th Century. One, a mediocre student, became a decorated war hero. The other, a literary genius, was ruined by scandal.
Robert Baden-Powell excelled at both war and bushcrafts.
The green carnation is associated writer Oscar Wilde (1854-1900). It was originally a symbol of his homeland, Ireland, but, as he wore it during his trial for “gross indecency”, it was soon adopted as an easy visual signifier among homosexual men in repressive, secretive Victorian-era Britain.