King Charles III – Patron of the Royal Horticultural Society

Having spent a lifetime championing the environment, King Charles has transformed his own garden at Highgrove into one of the most inspiring and innovative in the United Kingdom. It is a garden over 35 years in the making, created with passion, vision and dedication by the King, and is an exemplar of his organic principles.

In 2024, ahead of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, King Charles III was announced as the new Patron of the RHS. On the opening day of the show, the King and Queen met children from Sulivan Primary School in South West London, who created the children’s RHS No Adults Allowed Garden with designer Harry Holding. They toured the mini woodland, meadow and wetland, enjoying the children’s choices of oversized tropical and carnivorous plants.

King Charles and Queen Camilla were awarded new titles by the children in honour of their environmental work: the “King of the Compost” and “Queen of the Bees”. They looked amused when presented with their new names on badges by the schoolchildren.

King Charles III and Director General Clare Matterson with school pupils on the RHS No Adults Allowed Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2024

Accompanied by The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the King and Queen, also visited other gardens at RHS Chelsea, including The RHS Britain in Bloom 60^th Anniversary Friendship garden, which celebrates 60 years of community gardening. At the St James’s Piccadilly: Imagine the World to be Different garden, based on the churchyard at St James’s, King Charles told Rector Lucy Winkett that he loved the garden and knew the church.

“His role as our Patron, with his understanding that gardens are incredibly important natural spaces that support human health and the environment, and his own personal ethos that we should garden in a way that is not only beautiful but sustainable, is perfectly in tune with the RHS,” said Clare Matterson CBE, RHS Director General.

RHS President Keith Weed, Queen Camilla and King Charles III with recipients of The Elizabeth Medal of Honour at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2023

The King and Queen visited the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2023 just weeks after the Coronation. Their Majesties had a poignant moment to remember the late Queen Elizabeth II on the RHS Garden of Royal Reflection and Celebration. Designed by Dave Green, the garden was inspired by the favourite flowers of the late Queen and the new King, with nods to Sandringham. The King awarded the first Elizabeth Medals of Honour on the garden.

In 2013, the then Prince of Wales launched the Coronation Meadows Project to create 60 meadows, in honour of the 60th year of the late Queen’s accession to the throne. They have since thrived, with over 100 fields of flowers created over the last ten years.

The late Queen Elizabeth II became Patron of the RHS in 1952, after the death of her father King George VI. She was Patron for 70 years, visiting RHS Chelsea Flower Show nearly every year of her reign.

King Charles III helped design two Show Gardens, a Carpet Garden in 2001, now at Highgrove, and a Healing Garden in 2002, packed with plants and trees with medicinal value, both of which his mother visited.

The late Queen presented Prince Charles with the RHS Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH) in 2009

During the 2009 Show, Her Majesty, the late Queen, presented Prince Charles with the RHS Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH) – the Charity’s most prestigious award – as a tribute to his deep interest and expertise in horticulture.

Keith Weed CBE, President of the RHS said: “With the King as our Patron, we look forward to furthering our work to reach more people of all backgrounds, ages and gardening abilities with the joy of growing plants and gardening, to safeguard our gardens, combat the effects of climate change, and create a better future for generations to come.”