It’s set to be an especially exciting Royal Windsor Flower Show this year, as Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh is co-designing her very first garden, which will sit at the heart of the show. The Duchess has joined forces with Alan Williams of Landform Consultants to create The Plants with Purpose Garden, which has been partly inspired by some of her own memories.
During a meeting with Alan Williams and gardening legend Alan Titchmarsh, Sophie reflected on a childhood spent outdoors in the countryside and said that, ‘as children were just let off the leash. We were lucky to be off the leash quite a lot.’ She recalled taking what she described as ‘terrible floral displays’ to a local competition, as she spoke of the ‘wonderful little shows in villages and towns around our country’. What the Duchess remembered most was ‘the atmosphere’ and said that walking into a flower show now takes her ‘straight back to my childhood.’
sarah legge photography
sarah legge photography
Sophie praised the work of the Royal Windsor Flower Show for getting children involved with growing and gardening, saying these were ‘the activities where memories are made’. She added that the experience ‘lives with you’ and is a ‘great opportunity’ for every child to have.
‘Growing plants in a little trug, or in a little wheelbarrow or a welly,’ she said. ‘The children get so excited about it.’ The Duchess described gardening as ‘a series of mistakes with moments of highlight’ and stressed that ‘getting your hands dirty and putting your hands in soil,’ is great for children to get involved with.
Max Mumby/Indigo
The Duchess at Hampton Court Palace Festival last year.
‘We also have to love the soil,’ said Sophie, adding we should ‘start children off early enough being able to understand that things grow from that soil, with those worms and all the other bugs that they’re looking at.’ Part of the ethos behind The Duchess and Alan Williams’ garden is to embrace all pollinating insects, not just bees, and create harmony with the natural world. This is fitting as the theme of this year’s show is ‘Rooted in Nature’.
In a post on Instagram, the Royal Family said that the garden ‘will highlight the importance of healthy soil and an understanding of how food is grown.’ It explained that The Duchess, ‘dedicates much of her time to championing opportunities for young people to forge a career in the British food industry, supporting sustainable food production, and engaging everyone with where our food comes from.’
The Royal Windsor Flower Show takes place on 6 June 2026.
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