House of York transmit it; they either died without a male heir or succeeded to the throne. The title is held today by Prince Andrew, second son of Queen Elizabeth II and her consort Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The symbol of the House of York was a white rose, still used as the badge of Yorkshire and Jacobitism. York, Pennsylvania, is known as the White Rose City after the symbol of the House of York. The rivalry between York and Lancaster, in the modern form of the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire, has continued into the present day on a more friendly
To the Rose upon the Rood of Time a symbol of constancy, the rose is also the symbol of Yeats’s undying love for Maud Gonne, as well as the symbol for Ireland herself as a homeland, suffering and dying on the cross, beautiful, tragic, hoping for resurrection. Although Ireland suffers, she remains eternally beautiful, an unchanging factor that transcends time. Whatever the referent, or referents, the permanence of the rose is clear, as it is the “Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days" (line 1). In order for Yeats to tell of the great Celtic heroes, the rose must come near, presumably because the rose