FIFTY red roses sent to the Queen as a patriotic gesture were ruined by a six-day delivery delay.
Richard Hull of Yelverton is chairman of the Plymouth and West Devon branch of the Royal Society of St George, of which the Queen is patron.
He ordered the flowers on behalf of the group from Heaven Scent in Yelverton on May 30. The florist paid an additional charge for the next day delivery service.
Parcel carrier Amtrak collected the flowers the same day, but the roses did not reach Buckingham Palace until June 5 — by which time they would have been in a poor condition.
Mr Hull received a letter of thanks from one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting and a letter of apology from Amtrak, but he said he was annoyed the gesture had gone wrong.
'We as the West Devon branch thought sending 50 roses was the right thing to do and we didn't expect half-dead ones to arrive,' he said.
The delay was only discovered after Mr Hull read in the Times that the florist had also sent a dozen roses to the Queen and received an acknowledgment. Not having heard anything, he contacted the Palace, who said they had arrived on June 5 — which was later confirmed by Amtrak.
The florist has received a refund of the additional next-day delivery payment and Mr Hull has received a letter of apology and a refund of the carriage charge, but not of the price of the roses. He said he would be writing to the area manager again.
'All I want Amtrak to do is send another 50 red roses to the Queen — supplied and delivered by them — with their apologies,' Mr Hull said.
A spokesperson for Amtrak explained the parcel had been misrouted, and because of the bank holiday and weekend the delay had amounted to six days.
'This was one of thousands of transactions and these things do happen occasionally.
'It was somewhat unfortunate in this instance and we are extremely sorry.'
He said a manager was dealing with the matter.