by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2024

In 2024, the Chelsea Flower Show will be held from May 21 to May 25. King Charles III and Queen Camilla along with The Duke of Gloucester and The Duchess of Gloucester will attend the preview show on May 20.

The Chelsea Flower Show, now held five days in May, is sponsored by the Royal Horticultural Society and held on the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, an Old Soldiers’ retirement home and nursing home in Chelsea, London. 157,000 people attend the Chelsea Flower Show each year. The number of visitors is limited by the capacity of the 11-acre/4.5-hectare grounds, and all tickets must be purchased in advance. Members of the British Royal Family attend the Chelsea Flower Show.

• Royal Horticultural Society: Chelsea Flower Show

History

Chelsea Garden Show, May 19, 1914

Starting in 1833, the Royal Horticultural Society held flower shows at their gardens in Chiswick, a district in the London Borough of Hounslow, West London. In 1862, the flower show, called the Great Spring Show, was moved to Kensington Gardens in London and remained there until 1888 when the Royal Horticultural Society decided to move the flower show to Temple Gardens at The Temple, an area of the City of London surrounding Temple Church.

In 1912, the Great Spring Show was canceled at the Temple Gardens to allow an international horticultural exhibition to use the site. Instead, the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea were used for the 1912 Great Spring Show. It proved such a good site that the Great Spring Show was permanently moved there in 1913 and has taken place almost every year since, except for breaks during World War I and World War II. Eventually, the flower show came to be called the Chelsea Flower Show.

What Happens?

Visitors view the roses at the David Austin display stand at the 2023 Chelsea Flower Show

There are show gardens and competition gardens. Four grades of awards – gold, silver-gilt, silver, and bronze – are awarded for the competition gardens in the following categories: gardens and floral exhibits, exhibits of trees, exhibits of vegetables including herbs, exhibits of special educational or scientific interest and exhibits of pictures, photographs, floral arrangements, and floristry.

Sculptures made of wood at the 2023 Chelsea Garden Show

There are also special awards for best show garden, best courtyard garden, best chic garden, best city garden, sundries bowl, junior display trophy, floral arrangement trophies, floristry trophies, show certificates of merit, certificates for junior displays, Royal Horticultural Society President’s Award, Royal Horticultural Society Best Tradestand Award, and Royal Horticultural Society Director General’s Award for the Best Tradestand.

There have been several royalty-related show gardens including in 1937, the year of the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (later The Queen Mother) – “Coronation Year: The Empire Exhibition”, with displays of ornamental and economic plants from around the British Empire.

A display created by Simon Lycett for the 2022 show in honor of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, featuring 70 terracotta pots – one for every year of The Queen’s reign – planted with Lily of the Valley

In 2022, the year of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee – 2022 – “The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Garden”, with laser-cut steel silhouettes of the Queen surrounded by 70 planted terracotta pots planted with Lily of the Valley, the Queen’s favorite flower.

The Back to Nature Garden

In 2019, Catherine, Princess of Wales, then Duchess of Cambridge, worked with the Royal Horticultural Society as one of the co-designers for a garden display “Back to Nature Garden”. The garden featured a tree house, a waterfall, a rustic den, and a campfire to emphasize the benefits the natural world brings to mental and physical well-being.

Catherine, Princess of Wales, then Duchess of Cambridge climbing up the ladder to the treehouse in the Back to Nature Garden

The Garden of Royal Reflection and Celebration, designed by Dave Green for the 2023 show, featuring a bust of King Charles III (on the right)

In 2023, the Garden of Royal Reflection and Celebration celebrated Queen Elizabeth II’s life and King Charles III‘s coronation. The garden featured some of the favorite plants of both Queen Elizabeth and King Charles III.

The Princess of Wales having a picnic with students at the 2023 show

Also, in 2023, Catherine, Princess of Wales, hosted the first children’s picnic at a newly created garden at the show with students from ten schools from the Royal Horticultural Society’s school gardening campaign.

Royal Attendance

In 1913, royal visits were yet to become a tradition. King George V and Queen Mary did not attend but the King’s mother Queen Alexandra did attend the 1913 show. Eventually, royalty became a significant presence at the Chelsea Flower Show. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (later The Queen Mother) regularly attended the Chelsea Garden Show. Queen Elizabeth II visited fifty times during her seventy-year reign.

King Charles and Queen Camilla speak with Janet Fookes,  Judy Ling Wong, and Piet Oudolf after awarding them the Elizabeth Medal of Honour in the Garden of Royal Reflection and Celebration during the 2023 Chelsea Flower Show 

In 2023, King Charles III, accompanied by Queen Camilla, made his first visit as King. He presented the first-ever Elizabeth Medal of Honour given out to people who have had a “significant impact on the advancement of science, art, or the practice of horticulture for the benefit of all generations and the environment.” The Elizabeth Medal of Honour is limited to seventy recipients at any one time, in honor of Queen Elizabeth’s 70-year reign. The Elizabeth Medal of Honour may not be awarded every year, however, it may be awarded to multiple recipients in other years.

Today, just about any member of the British royal family could attend the Chelsea Garden Show. Usually, several members of the British royal family attend a preview of the show, as part of the royal patronage of the Royal Horticultural Society.

• Gardens Illustrated: Royalty at Chelsea Flower Show through the years

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Works Cited

• Piet Oudolf Receives Elizabeth Medal of Honour Presented by The King and Queen. Gardens Illustrated. (n.d.-a). https://www.gardensillustrated.com/chelsea/elizabeth-medal-honour-2023
• RHS Chelsea Flower Show. RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2024 / RHS Gardening. (n.d.). https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show
• Royalty at Chelsea Flower Show Through the Years. Gardens Illustrated. (n.d.). https://www.gardensillustrated.com/chelsea/royals-at-chelsea-flower-show
• Wikimedia Foundation. (2024). Chelsea Flower Show. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Flower_Show