At Buckingham Palace, every Monday, HRH the Queen receives a bundle of different flowers thoughtfully picked by the Gardens Manager-the Garden at Buckingham Palace is a large private park attached to the London residence of the monarch.
When Queen Elizabeth II returns to Buckingham Palace after spending the weekend at Windsor Castle, there’s always a posy of flowers on her desk to welcome her back. The Queen’s favorite flower is the primrose, an early spring flower that’s yellow like the sun—a reminder that summer is on its way!
The grounds act as a private garden for the royal family, but are used for garden parties over the summer, and parts of it can be seen by the public as part of the palace tour during the months of August and September. The Queen is known to be very fond of the gardens at her official London residence, which features a three-acre lake, rose garden, around 200 trees and more than 350 types of wildflowers.
Unlike the nearby Royal Parks of London, Buckingham Palace Garden is not usually open to the public. However, when the palace is open during August and September, visitors have access to part of the garden, which forms the exit, via a gift shop in a marquee, at the end of the tour.The garden is where the Queen’s garden parties are held. In June 2002 she invited the public into the garden for entertainment for the first time during her reign. As part of her Golden Jubilee Weekend thousands of Britons were invited to apply for tickets to Party at the Palace where the guitarist Brian May of the band Queen performed his God Save the Queen guitar solo on top of Buckingham Palace. This concert was preceded the previous evening by a Prom at the Palace. During the Queen’s 80th birthday celebrations in 2006 the garden was the scene of Children’s Party at the Palace.
While touring the Chelsea Flower Show with her husband Prince Philip that year, she impressed with her extensive knowledge about plants, with Robert Hillier, chairman of Hillier Nurseries, disclosing: “She has never shown her knowledge before. We have met many times but suddenly she is so interested in plants and planting… She obviously enjoys going to Chelsea, but in the past she has not been so animated. She has got really into gardening. It’s never too late!
