The King and Queen visit RHS Chelsea 2025
The King and Queen visited RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025, an annual visit which Their Majesties have enjoyed for many years
King Charles III and Queen Camilla toured RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025, making a special visit to the RHS and BBC Radio 2 Dog Garden, designed by Monty Don and his canine companion Ned. The RHS and BBC Radio 2 Dog Garden was the first garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show to be designed by BBC Gardeners’ World’s Monty Don, with dogs in mind and features grass areas for dogs to enjoy and a large tree providing shade.
The King in the Great Pavilion admiring the Raymond Evison Clematis stand
The names of the Queen’s adopted Jack Russell terrier, Bluebell and her new puppy, Moley featuredon the brick path of the garden, alongside that of her much loved dog Beth, who passed away last year. The name of the King’s dog, Snuff, a lagotto romagnolo – an Italian truffle hunting dog, was also on the path, alongside other beloved pets of RHS Ambassadors and Radio 2 presenters and Monty Don’s beloved dog Ned, to reflect the special place dogs hold in the nation’s hearts and gardens.
Ned with his mum Mabel and sister Isla visited the garden to give it their paw of approval
Queen Camilla has been a patron of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home since 2016, following Queen Elizabeth II’s patronage, and from them, adopted her Jack Russell terrier puppy Moley in February 2025, after her long-time companion Beth passed in November last year.
The Queen adopted Bluebell in September 2012 from Battersea. Bluebell had been rescued after being found wandering about in woods in a London Park. Battersea Dogs and Cats Home nursed her back to health, before being adopted into the Royal Family.
The RHS and BBC Radio 2 Dog Garden
After RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the RHS and BBC Radio 2 Dog Garden will live on across the River Thames at the Battersea animal home, for the rescue dogs and the people who work and volunteer there to enjoy.
Queen Camilla meets Chelsea Pensioners
The King and Queen visited several other gardens and plantspeople at RHS Chelsea, including the Wildlife Trusts’ British Rainforest Garden, designed by Zoe Claymore.
The King met with Zoe Claymore who designed the garden to evoke the wild wet woodlands that once swathed landscapes across the west coast of Britain and shine a light on the Wildlife Trusts’ and Aviva’s Temperate Rainforest Restoration Programme, which aims to return rainforests to the UK within 100 years.
Zoe Claymore said the King told her this was the kind of garden he likes. She said: “The King knows his ferns. He’s the President of the British Pteridological Society and Patron of the Wildlife Trust. He said it’s rare to meet someone who knows what they do. He was interested in the reclaimed material, peat-free gardening and sustainability practices used in the garden.”
The King meets designer Joe Perkins on The King’s Trust Garden: Seeding Success
The King’s Trust Garden: Seeding Success showcases the potential of young people, and the King headed there and spoke with Joe Perkins, the designer, who has created the garden to show the ability of plants to adapt, seed and flourish in hostile environments, representing the resilience of young people and their ability to overcome adversity and thrive when given the right support.
Joe Perkins said: “The King liked the idea of resilient planting, and that we’d grown a lot of the garden from seed. He loved the benches inspired by wisteria seedpods and the ecclesiastical glass, which reflects the work of the Trust to bring illumination into people’s lives.”
King Charles III meets David Beckham at the Highgrove stand
David Beckham, an ambassador of The King’s Foundation, met the King at the Highgrove Shop stand. The King’s Foundation aims to encourage young people to consider careers in horticulture and proceeds from the stand at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show go towards the work of the Foundation. The former England Football Captain also met with fellow ambassador Alan Titchmarsh.
Their Majesties paid a visit to David Austin Roses, who have for RHS Chelsea 2025 unveiled ‘The King’s Rose’, in support of the King’s Foundation.
‘The King’s Rose’ unveiled by David Austin Roses, in support of the King’s Foundation
A semi-double, repeat-flowering shrub, the rose boasts delicate papery petals with distinct stripes in shades of fuchsia pink and white and has a light musk fragrance. David J.C. Austin said: “While every one of our English roses is exquisite and extraordinary in its own right, ‘The King’s Rose’ is truly unique – a rose of great prestige, created to honour a monarch whose lifelong dedication to nature and horticulture is unparalleled. It only feels right to unveil such a distinguished rose on a stage as respected as RHS Chelsea.”
Following the visit, David J.C. Austin said: “The Queen expressed great joy at seeing ‘The King’s Rose’. As a gardener herself, she is familiar with the old fashioned rose Rosa mundi, which ‘The King’s Rose’ is a much improved version of.”
The Queen spoke to some of the plantspeople and toured The Great Pavilion, before visiting the first-ever exhibit of funeral floristry in the 112-year history of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, designed by The Farewell Flowers Directory.
A willow coffin dressed with sustainable flowers by Farewell Flowers Directory
The sustainable display featured British-grown flowers and a willow coffin, and was 100% plastic free. The exhibit hoped to open conversations with visitors and encourage people to think about what their wishes for their own funeral might be. Visitors were invited to complete the sentence “I’d like my funeral to be…” by writing their thoughts onto colourful tags that decorated the perimeter of the exhibit.
The Farewell Flowers Directory, a UK not-for-profit that promotes personalised funeral tributes, aims to banish plastic floral foam and single-use plastic from funeral floristry and demonstrate that you don’t need to sacrifice beauty for sustainability.
Rosa ‘Catherine’s Rose’ bred by Harkness Roses, shown in the Great Pavilion
In the Great Pavilion, Harkness Roses also brought a new rose, bred for The Princess of Wales, to celebrate the incredible healing power of nature and raise awareness of the important role that spending time outdoors plays in bringing us joy and supporting our mental, physical and spiritual wellbeing.
The King spoke to exhibitors, including the Bahrain Gardening Club. Zahra Fakhra from the club said: “The King was interested about where we’re from, and said he’d met the Crown Prince of Bahrain. He was very interested in getting young people involved in horticulture.”
RHS Chelsea Flower Show is the most famous flower show on the planet and was listed fifth on Kuoni’s 2024 list of world’s unmissable travel experiences. It will return in May 2026. The next RHS Shows, both major events in the gardening calendar this year, include RHS Hampton and RHS Wentworth Woodhouse in July
