The Queen visited a themed garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, where she revealed how she spent some TV time
Even Queen Camilla wants to know Queen Charlotte’s pick for the diamond of the season!
King Charles and Queen Camilla continued a longstanding royal tradition by visiting the Chelsea Flower Show on May 20, where they toured several showcases celebrating horticulture. During a stroll around a Bridgerton-themed garden, the Queen, 76, revealed that she’s seen the Netflix hit.
“I watched the first lot,” she said during the outing, according to royal reporter Rebecca English.
The Regency-era show has plenty of ties to the British royal family, including the character of Queen Charlotte inspired by the real-life wife of King George III.
Queen Camilla isn’t the only member of the royal family who has followed along with Daphne, Simon, Anthony, Eloise and more of the characters. Sarah Ferguson told US Weekly in 2021 that she was so “obsessed” with the show that she watched it twice.
Holly Johnston designed the sanctuary garden inspired by Penelope Featherington, whose love story provides the centerpiece of the show’s third season, which premiered its first drop of episodes on May 16. While Penelope is shy at society events, she has an alter ego as Lady Whistledown, the author of a captivating gossip pamphlet.
“This season of Bridgerton is about Penelope Featherington, who in previous series has been known as a ‘wallflower,’ ” Johnston, who is making her debut at the Chelsea Flower Show, told Country Living. “She’s somewhat overlooked in society, but this season we get to see her step into the light. The whole context and theme [of the garden] is that even a wallflower can bloom.”
The designer continued, “I envisioned it being a safe, personal and intimate space for her and I imagined this young woman running away to this garden, whenever she was having a hard time being Penelope and Lady Whistledown.”
The display features a sunken sitting area surrounding a fountain with touches like a romantic arch and a secret trinket box.
“The atmosphere I wanted to create was really important. I want people to feel something when they enter a space,” Johnston explained. “For this space, in particular, it’s a place of safety. It’s meant to be the personal space of a young woman [Penelope]. It needed to feel enclosed and secluded – a place that she could be vulnerable in, as she houses so many secrets and fears. I wanted it to feel welcoming and wrap its arms around you — a place you can feel at one with yourself, reconcile all the parts of yourself and just relax.”
Queen Camilla wasn’t the only famous visitor to the Bridgerton garden. On May 20, it was also visited by cast members Hannah Dodd, who plays Francesca Bridgerton in season 3, and Ruth Gemmell, who has been on all three seasons of the show as the Bridgerton family matriarch Violet, Dowager Viscountess Bridgerton.
Adding a special touch to this year’s royal visit, it was previously announced that King Charles was the new patron of the Royal Horticultural Society, which hosts the annual flower show that was established in 1913.
In addition, King Charles recently returned to a fuller schedule of royal duties such as public outings amid his cancer treatment. The monarch quipped during a May 9 outing to the Royal School of Military Engineering that he was glad to be “out of my cage.”
King Charles and Queen Camilla toured the “No Adults Allowed Garden,” the first display at the show “designed by children for children.”
Students from the Sulivan Primary School who contributed to the design also gave the royal couple badges with nicknames, according to the BBC. The monarch received the moniker the “King of the Compost,” which the environmentally-conscious King joked was “quite right,” while Camilla was dubbed the “Queen of the Bees” for her beekeeping hobby.
During the outing, Queen Camilla also posed for photos with wicker statues of her rescue dogs, Bluebell and Beth! The two pups have accompanied her on royal outings, appeared in official portraits and even were featured on Queen Camilla’s coronation dress.
Just as Kate Middleton, who is currently remaining out of the public eye as she undergoes cancer treatment, helped design a “Back to Nature” garden for the Chelsea Flower Show in 2019, this year’s event also had a royal contributor.
