Fresh as a daisy: Smiling Queen visits Chelsea Flower Show
THE Queen was back on public duty yesterday for the first time since the Royal Wedding as she visited the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. In a double wool crepe coat in pale pink by Stewart Parvin and matching floral print dress, the 92-year-old monarch took in the colours of the show during a 45-minute tour.
JAMES WHATLING
It’s probably one of the few roses I will be able to take home and keep alive
She was joined at the event, which she has missed only twice since her coronation in 1953, by a royal party that included Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice, Princess Anne, the Countess of Wessex, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent and Princess Alexandra.
The Queen’s tour of the show included a visit to the Royal Horticultural Society’s Feel Good Garden, celebrating 70 years of the National Health Service, and the Wuhan Water Garden, where the Queen was presented with a Chinese silk scarf depicting two whales.
Earlier, politicians – including Prime Minister Theresa May – and celebrities visited the gardens, set in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
GETTY/TIM CLARKE
TV stars included Ben Fogle, attending with his wife Marina, and Holly Willoughby, who unveiled an “indestructible” pink rose named after ITV’s This Morning programme to mark the show’s 30th birthday.
“It’s probably one of the few roses I will be able to take home and keep alive,” she said.
“I’m not very good in the garden so this is definitely the rose for me.”