The Princess of Wales appeared to make a nod to Queen Elizabeth II as she opened up royal participation in this year’s Chelsea Flower Show.

Arriving at the gardens in a surprise visit on press day, the Princess chose a bright pink tea dress. The shade was almost identical to the one worn by Queen Elizabeth II when she made her final visit to the show in 2022.

Last year, Her Late Majesty toured the event in a motorised buggy as mobility issues impacted her health. She wore a pink coat over a patterned dress for what would be her last time at the show which she had visited for decades, starting as a princess. Queen Elizabeth II became patron of the Royal Horticultural Society, which runs the show, on her accession to the throne in 1952 and rarely missed Chelsea.

A special garden has been created for this year’s event in memory of Queen Elizabeth II.

In 2023, it was the Princess of Wales who began royal attendance at the event. The Princess made an unannounced visit to a new event for the Chelsea Flower Show as, for the first time, a Children’s Picnic was held at the prestigious event. The Royal Horticultural Society is running a Campaign for School Gardening, to encourage more young people to get outdoors and enjoy the world around them. They invited 100 of their newest gardeners to the show for a picnic, which ended up being by royal appointment.

Catherine sat with the youngsters to enjoy a sandwich lunch at the bandstand and talked to them about their own experiences of gardening. She then joined them on a tour of three of the gardens on show at this year’s event before taking part in a bug hunt with them.

In 2019, the Princess created at garden for the Chelsea Flower Show which focused on making the outdoors enjoyable for children and which reflected her own early memories of being outdoors. It was designed with landscape architects, Andree Davies and Adam White. It was one of several Back to Nature gardens that they worked on together with another shown at Hampton Court and a permanent play garden opening up soon afterwards at RHS Wisley.

Clare Matterson CBE, Director General of the Royal Horticultural Society, said ”“I want this to be a special experience for all the children at Chelsea, igniting an interest in gardening that will be with them throughout their life.  We know that spending time in nature leads to better wellbeing and creates a greater attachment and desire to protect and cherish the natural world. 

The Royal Family is expected to turn out in force for the 2023 Flower Show with King Charles and Queen Camilla set to visit on the evening of May 22nd 2023.