The Tudor rose combines the red rose associated with Lancaster and the white rose of York. It became a powerful emblem of reconciliation after Henry Tudor defeated Richard III and married Elizabeth of York.
The two houses were rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet. Lancaster supported Henry Tudor’s claim, while York had supplied England’s kings Edward IV, Edward V and Richard III. Their long struggle for the throne became known retrospectively as the Wars of the Roses, although the floral imagery was developed and popularised especially after the conflict.
Henry VII adopted the combined rose as heraldic propaganda. The design presented his new Tudor dynasty as the union of both competing claims rather than simply a victory by one side. The marriage to Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, reinforced that message and gave their children a connection to both houses.
The Tudor rose is therefore not the rose of a separate medieval house called Tudor. It is a symbolic combination: white petals traditionally represent York and red petals represent Lancaster. The emblem remains associated with England today.