HELLO! magazine

The of Wales made a surprise appearance at the first day of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show, joining London school pupils for the annual event’s first Children’s Picnic. Kate met youngsters from ten schools taking part in the RHS’s Campaign for School Gardening as they sat down to eat, before visiting three of this year’s show gardens with them. The Children’s Picnic, which is planned to be an annual event, was inspired by a conversation she had with the RHS in 2019 about involving more children in the show, following the success of her Back to Nature Garden. Looking elegant in a pink dress by Me+Em, the mother of three sat on a picnic blanket with children from St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School in Hammersmith, asking: “Are any of…

‘His Majesty was interested in one of the plants we’ve got because at Highgrove, something’s being eaten by rabbits’ They are both passionate gardeners and have been known to compete over their home-grown produce, so the King and Queen were in their element touring the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show for the first time in his new reign. Their Majesties were joined at the Royal Hospital venue in London by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent and Princess Alexandra to take in some of the 17 show gardens and the more than 70 plant nurseries in the Great Pavilion. Also with the Queen, who was chic in a blue floral print silk dress by Fiona Clare, were her sister Annabel Elliot and her daughter and…

‘It’s a Chelsea first and Chelsea one-off — it’s not something you expect to happen at a flower show’ Not many people can say they married their soulmate in a historic wedding ceremony and met the King and Queen on the same day, but that’s exactly what happened to garden designer Manoj Malde and his new husband Clive Gillmor. Manoj, the ambassador for inclusivity and diversity at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), and horticulturalist Clive became the first same-sex couple to tie the knot in the Chelsea Flower Show’s 110-year history. The traditional Hindu ceremony took place at the Eastern Eye Garden of Unity, which Manoj designed for this year’s event, and was attended by a crowd of 30 family members and friends. Bright floral arrangements and colourful displays of Japanese cherry, cardoons and…

As sunny weather finally arrived, stars joined royalty in looking blooming marvellous as they toured the Chelsea Flower Show last week. Famous names from the worlds of TV, music and radio all dressed in their summer best as they mingled among the fragrant plants and flowers. Leading the arrivals at the official preview of the annual garden display were royal twins Lady Eliza and Lady Amelia Spencer. Newlywed Amelia wore a floaty dress from Zimmermann, while Lady Eliza went for a pink polka-dot outfit by Alessandra Rich. At the Natural Affinity Garden for Aspens, designed to highlight the therapeutic value of nature by helping visitors engage with their senses, musician and DJ Cerys Matthews was reading from her children’s version of Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood. WINNING DESIGN Meanwhile, Dame Joanna Lumley, looking stylish…

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Hearing the words: “You need to get somebody here,” was the moment Amy Dowden realised quite how serious the situation was. Sitting alone with a nurse at an emergency referral after finding a lump in her breast, it was then that the Strictly Come Dancing star knew she had to have husband Ben Jones by her side. And that is where he has been ever since, supporting her through the most emotional and challenging of times following her devastating diagnosis with breast cancer, which Amy, 32, revealed exclusively to HELLO! last week. “Everything happened so fast that day,” Amy says. “They told us that it was looking very suspicious and to prepare for the worst, hope for the best. They did the biopsy and then we had a wait.” ‘I’m going to be as…