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They’ve been as much a fixture as the plants themselves (well, almost…) From King George VI to Charles III, we remember Royal visits to the Chelsea Flower Show down the years
The 2023 Chelsea Flower Show is underway with one regular – and very notable – guest sadly missing.
This is the first show to be be held since the death of Queen Elizabeth in September.
This year’s special show will take a look back at the late Queen’s favourite plants while also celebrating King Charles’s recent Coronation and looking forward to his reign.
The festival, which takes place in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London, will include a special commemorative garden for Queen Elizabeth put together by gold medal-winning designer, Dave Green.
The garden will feature plants in a light pink and white colour scheme she preferred. Purple and blue flowers reflect the taste of her son, the King. Drifts of Camassia are reminiscent of the meadows in front of Highgrove House – the family home of Charles and Camila.
Hundreds of thousands of people will attend in the course of Chelsea’s six days – including visits from members of the Royal Family who, since its founding in 1913, have been almost as much a fixture as the plants, as these pictures show:
The Princess sat down with schoolchildren and chatted to them as she arrived for the first ever Children’s Picnic yesterday
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, talking to the architect of a miniature waterfall built in one of the display gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show in 1950
Queen Elizabeth, soon after her accession, visits the 1952 Chelsea Flower Show
A gardener putting the finishing touches to a large ER II emblem in a garden by William Wood & Son in May 1953 – just days before the Coronation
Queen Elizabeth II talking enjoying the view as the Duke of Edinburgh talks to the Hon David Bowes-Lyon during a viewing of a rock garden in 1958
Queen Elizabeth II on a tour of the Chelsea Flower Show in May 1960
The Queen pictured eating a strawberry in 1977 – the year of her successful Silver Jubilee
Diana, Princess of Wales admiring the plants at the Chelsea Flower Show in May 1984
Princess Michael Of Kent made an appearance at the 1993 Chelsea Flower Show
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, smelling some of the flowers on display in 2006
Elizabeth II looks delighted by the plants in 2004
Queen Camilla attending the preview day for the annual Chelsea Flower Show in May 2006
King Charles and Queen Camilla enjoy the stepping stones in 2007
Lady Helen Taylor, daughter of the Duke of Kent, arrives at the show in 2007
King Charles smelling a ‘Highgrove’ rose, presented by grower Peter Beales in 2009
The late Queen Elizabeth II presenting Charles, a keen gardener, with a Royal Horticultural Society’s Victoria Medal of Honour during a visit to Chelsea Flower Show in May 2009
Princess Beatrice was presented with this rose at the 2011 show
A floral display celebrates the late Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012
Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank walk hand-in-hand in May 2016
Kate Middleton was one of the exhibitors in 2019. Here experts with Andree Davies and Adam White pay a visit to her garden
The late Queen Elizabeth II and the current Prince and Princess of Wales in 2019
Sophie and Edward, then Duchess and Duke of Wessex, walk by a giant pumpkin in September 2021 – a show delayed by Covid
Edward and Sophie are given a tour of The Chelsea Flower Show in 2022
The Queen arrived at the Chelsea Flower Show in a luxury buggy for a royal preview of last year’s Chelsea Flower Show. Sadly, it was to be her last.
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