King Charles and Queen were nicknamed “King of the Compost” and “Queen of the Bees” as they visited a child-only garden at the Chelsea Flower Show.
The royal visit on Monday, before the event opens to the public, came days after the King became the new patron of the show’s organisers, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) – and as he returns to some public duties while undergoing cancer treatment.
Their latest titles were awarded by children from Sulivan Primary School in London, who handed the couple badges with their new names as they toured the “RHS No Adults Allowed Garden”.
The area, designed by Harry Holding and students from the school, includes a journey through a landscape of lush woodland, meadows and a wetland with heightened colour and oversized bog plants.
Adults can tour the garden – but only if they pledge to do one of three things: either plant a tree, donate to the RHS Campaign for School Gardening or find a flower that starts with the first letter of their name.
The King joked “quite right” after being presented with his badge.
It came as the Queen admitted she had watched Bridgerton as she toured a garden inspired by the hit Netflix show.
She said: “I watched the first lot”.
Other highlights at the show include gardens filled with drought-resilient plants, water storage features and green innovations, as part of efforts to embrace sustainability and a future with climate change.
Earlier, Dame Mary Berry, 89, a former judge on The Great British Bake Off, also took in the garden, as did Hannah Dodd and Ruth Gemmell, who play Francesca Bridgerton and her mother, Lady Violet, in the hit Netflix series.
Dame Judi Dench placed a seedling from the Sycamore Gap tree, which was felled in an act of vandalism last year, in the National Trust’s Octavia Hill garden.
The seedling, named by Dame Judi as Antoninus after the adopted son of Emperor Hadrian, will be on display during the show.
Andrew Jasper, director of gardens and parks at the National Trust, said: “When I first saw the saplings sprouting, I knew there was hope for the future of this tree.
Ms Berry is a Chelsea pensioner. He visited the nearby Chelsea Royal Hospital with others. There is also a National Garden Scheme garden, giving you access to over 3,500 of his private gardens across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Dame Joan Collins, Carol Vorderman, Dame Joanna Lumley, Gabby Logan and Bruno Tonioli were other celebrities who attended the show, which opened to the public on Tuesday.
Sustainability was one of the themes of this year’s show, with the RHS introducing a ‘green audit’ for large scale gardens and offering an environmental innovation award for the first time.
The world’s leading exhibition of horticultural excellence attracts around 168,000 visitors each year.
The fair features over 500 exhibits including gardens, nurseries, florists, educational exhibitions and trade fairs.