Laxton's 'Royal Sovereign' was one of the most successful, combining European flavour with American robustness.
In the latter 20th Century, older strawberry cultivars fell out of favour commercially, displaced by modern varieties with longer shelf-lives, higher fruit yields and a better resistance to modern methods of transportation.
Despite this, the variety is still highly prized amongst strawberry aficionados, and is still grown in small-scale cultivation, where flavour can take more precedence over yield quantity.
In 2012, Elizabeth II was served the variety again when a special crop was grown as a gift from Britain's soft fruit gardeners.
[3] The horticulturalist Beatrix Havergal won fifteen golds for her exhibition of 'Royal Sovereign' at the Chelsea Flower Show.