Pat, your friend who suggested Regale to start your seeding experience with because he knows you'll have good success with it--that's why he recommended it, and he's right. You'll get lots of good seeds and nearly every seed you plant will come up and grow nicely for you. As Joe said, a true Species L. regale can be 'apomitic' but with commercial Regales, I wouldn't depend on it. I've found that open or mixed pollen crossing between commercial Regales in the same group gave me a wider variation in the color of the reverses (back side)from a lighter pale pink to a pretty dark chocolate rose. I think that L. regale is both overlooked and underrated from the standpoint of adaptability, hardiness and disease resistance amongst most present day 'advanced' backyard hybridizers. Your friend made a good recommendation.
Here's some historical information you and others might be interested in reading about Regale:
http://www.zone10.com/the-rega...
As far as pollination goes, a single flower will generally not pollenate itself, even if you try to make it do so. Two flowers on the same plant may pollenate each other in some instances but the offspring may not be healthy. Cross pollenating flowers between two plants of the same cultivar or type always gives best seed and gives healthiest offspring.
Edit added. Note the above linked article must have been written in the mid 1950's, around the year the Royal Gold cultivar was registered.
