All featured products are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, Vanity Fair may earn an affiliate commission.
This year, Queen Elizabeth’s usually packed spring schedule was completely cleared due to the coronavirus crisis. The queen is still riding her horses daily and enjoying long dinners with Prince Philip while she self-isolates in Windsor Castle, but many of her traditional warm-weather events, from the Buckingham Palace garden parties to her June birthday celebration Trooping the Colour, are canceled for the year. But one of her most traditional spring celebrations, the Chelsea Flower Show, has found a way to continue virtually, by featuring gardening advice sessions online and screening garden tours on the BBC. On Monday, what would have been the first day of the in-person festival, the queen released a statement celebrating the Royal Horticultural Society’s creative solution.
“My family and I have always enjoyed visiting the Show, and I know that your Members and Supporters will be disappointed that they are unable to attend in person this year,” she said in a letter. “As patron of the Royal Horticultural Society, I was pleased to hear that you will be providing gardening advice and virtual sessions on your website.”
She also mentioned her family’s long history with the show. “I am sure that my grandmother, Queen Mary, who first attended the Chelsea Flower Show in 1916, would be delighted that many people today have an enthusiasm for horticulture, and that gardening remains a popular pastime in the United Kingdom,” she said.
The first Chelsea Flower show was opened by her great-grandmother, Queen Alexandra in 1913, and the queen herself has attended most years since she was 10 years old. Other members of the family usually attend every year, and other members of the family have even sponsored their own gardens. Last year, Kate Middleton took a hands-on approach to a garden designed for young children. Prince Charles designed a garden in honor of the Queen Mother in 2002, and Prince Harry sponsored them on behalf of his charity Sentebale in 2013 and 2015.
— Prince Harry’s Quarantine Lament: The Ex-Royal Is Reportedly Feeling a Little Sad in L.A.
— Astronaut Jessica Meir Returns Home to a “Completely Different Planet”
— Can a New Book Finally Settle the Feud Rumors Between Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton?
— This Is What Swedish Chefs Learned While Keeping Their Restaurants Open in the Pandemic
— Even Stephen King Thinks We’re Living in a Stephen King Book
— A Pandemic Won’t Kill the Open Office, but Slack Could
— From the Archive: The Lonely Heir, an Inside Look at Prince Charles’s Childhood
Looking for more? Sign up for our daily newsletter and never miss a story.
