The Green Carnation The Green Carnation The Green Carnation, first published anonymously in 1894, was a scandalous novel by Robert Hichens whose lead characters are closely based on Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas – also known as "Bosie", whom the author personally knew. It was an instant "succès de scandale" on both sides of the Atlantic. The reviewer for "The Observer" wrote, ""The Green Carnation" will be read and discussed by everyone... nothing so impudent, so bold, or so delicious has been printed these many years." The book features the characters of "Esmé Amarinth" (Wilde), and "Lord Reginald (Reggie) Hastings" (Douglas). The
Lord Alfred Douglas series of articles alleging that a "powerful individual in the Admiralty" had alerted the Germans at the Battle of Jutland that the British had broken their code, and that Winston Churchill had falsified a report in return for a large sum of money from Ernest Cassel who thereby profited; in May 1921 Douglas would also insinuate that Herbert Earl Kitchener had been murdered by the Jews. Douglas would cease to be editor after issue 67 in 1921 after a row with Spencer. He then produced a short lived, almost identical, rival magazine called "Plain Speech" in 1921 with Herbert Moore