15. When Pineapples Were the Height of Fashion
Back in the days when royalists advocated the divine right of kings, anything with a crown came to be associated with heavenly approval. The pineapple, whose spiny top resembled a crown, became a symbolic manifestation of monarchy. It soon became known as “The King of Fruit”. Between that, the vast distances they had to travel to reach Europe, their exoticism, and the fact that few people had ever set eye on one, possessing a pineapple became a status symbol and a statement of exquisite fashion sense. So much so, that pineapples were used in international politics and diplomacy.
In 1668, a French ambassador arrived in England to mediate a dispute over some Caribbean islands. England’s King Charles II ordered a pineapple from the English colony of Barbados perched atop a fruit pyramid at a dinner feast in honor of the French envoy. Contemporaries saw it as a public relations triumph, which asserted English dominance in the region. The move visually illustrated that England’s naval supremacy meant that the English could get pineapples from the Caribbean at will, while the French could not. From then on, the pineapple, which Charles II christened “King-Pine”, became his favorite status symbol. He even commissioned a painting in which the royal gardener presents him with one.
