King Charles to host prestigious flower show at Royal Family residence for the first time

Svar Nanan-Sen
Tue, 31 Mar 2026 09:07:09 +0000

The Royal Horticultural Society will make history this summer by staging its first ever flower show at a royal residence, with the inaugural RHS Sandringham event taking place from July 22 to 26.

The five-day celebration of horticulture will be held at the Royal family's Norfolk estate, marking a significant milestone for Britain's leading gardening organisation.

Both the King and Queen will take active roles in the event, with His Majesty set to personally choose his favourite exhibit promoting biodiversity.

The centrepiece of the royal involvement will be the RHS Royal Legacy Garden, created through a collaboration between the King and landscape designer Catherine MacDonald of Landform Consultants.

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Constructed by Gadd Brothers Trees & Landscapes using materials sourced locally from Norfolk, the garden will showcase native species including yew and hornbeam, chosen specifically for their biodiversity benefits.

The design also incorporates what experts term "future trees" – varieties capable of thriving in rising temperatures, such as pride of India and the strawberry tree.

Pollinator-friendly perennials including salvia and nepeta will provide splashes of purple, yellow and red throughout the display.

The Queen will serve as judge for the Upcycled Container competition, an event challenging community groups to transform discarded materials into miniature planted displays.

The show will also debut an entirely new category called Grow Forward Gardens, requiring all entries to address climate change mitigation through their designs.

Among the featured gardens in this category, Jane Scott Moncrieff's creation for The Gurkha Welfare Trust will draw on climate-resilient gardening methods from the Himalayan region.

Anthony Purdy's entry, The Rhythm of Rainwater, addresses water scarcity through rainwater harvesting tanks fitted with hydrophones and steel drums that produce sounds as precipitation falls.

Amanda Thomas's Butterfly Sanctuary Garden will offer nectar-rich planting alongside a wildlife pond.

Catherine MacDonald expressed her ambition for the garden to encourage visitors to observe the natural world more closely. "I hope the garden will inspire visitors to take a closer look at the incredible patterns found in nature all around us from the repeating branch formations of oak trees to the spiralling leaf patterns of ferns," she said.

She added: "We want to encourage people to make choices in their own gardens that work with nature, recognising the role we all play in supporting wildlife and promoting tree and plant diversity for now and the future."

Jenny Laville, show manager at RHS Sandringham, said: "The positive impact nature has on our wellbeing has long been known so we're delighted to be celebrating this at RHS Sandringham."