The Queen has set her sights on one of the King’s patronages, playfully mentioning the idea of nudging Charles from one of his roles during her visit to a museum on Wednesday.
Camilla, aged 76, praised London’s Garden Museum as “such a special place” during her third visit in just over 12 months to explore a new exhibition focusing on gardens associated with women from the renowned Bloomsbury group of artists.
During an impromptu speech to guests, including TV presenter and royal florist Shane Connolly, the Queen cracked a joke.
“I don’t know how many visits I’ve paid here – quite a lot. I know my husband’s patron but I might have to nudge him, I’d quite like to take that one away from him. It’s such a special place that every time I’m asked, I just like to come back again and I think this wonderful exhibition celebrating women in garden(ing) is so important.”
She added: “I’m so glad that you are celebrating all the women who are these great gardeners because we do love gardening, it’s quite often the men who get celebrated and not the women, so I think you’re doing a brilliant job here.”
Both Charles and Camilla are green-fingered royals, who have long spoken about their love for gardening.
After the visit, Alan Titchmarsh spoke about the Queen’s private home in Gloucestershire: “She’s a great gardener and I know that Ray Mill is a wonderful retreat for her with her own garden.”
He added: “We would be very happy to have the Queen and the King as patron, either or both. We just love that she loves to come.”
Shane Connolly said: “It’s lovely because they’re both gardeners so we’ve got the most amazing support – a patron who’s a gardener and his wife who comes to see us, so it’s absolutely fantastic.
“They get what this is about, and gardening is for everyone, it’s not just for people who’ve got big estates, they realise that and this is a facility for people to come and see the therapy that a garden provides.”
