King Charles III to Help Lead Design of ‘Royal Legacy Garden’ in Historic First for Inaugural RHS Sandringham Flower Show

The garden will be a celebration of His Majesty’s lifelong love for horticulture, featuring his favorite blooms and local craftsmanship

Sandringham House
(Image credit: nagelestock.com via Alamy / Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

It is no secret that King Charles III has long approached gardening not as a respectable pastime, but as a serious, sustaining practice – just look at his Highgrove Gardens as proof of his passion. However, this year he has decided to give his private love a public platform at the first-ever RHS Sandringham Flower Show.

The monarch is collaborating with award-winning landscape designer Catherine MacDonald on a new feature garden, marking the first occasion an RHS show has been staged at the royal residence in Gloucestershire, in the South West of England

'We're thrilled to announce that the Feature Garden at the new RHS Sandringham Flower Show will be designed in collaboration with His Majesty The King,' a post from the horticultural society and the Sandringham Estate shared.

The announcement adds that the garden will celebrate 'His Majesty’s passion for horticulture, including many of his favourite plants as well as local Norfolk materials and showcasing rural skills.'

Alongside the Royal Legacy Garden, the show will introduce two new awards bestowed by the King and Queen. The King will personally select his choice for outstanding contribution to biodiversity, while The Queen will present an award for the finest Upcycled Container – celebrating community creativity in transforming discarded materials into miniature container gardens.

The news about King Charles's RHS garden also coincides with his royal film, Finding Harmony: A King's Vision (available to watch on Amazon).

The film is a deeply personal reflection on the King’s belief in living in balance with the natural world, particularly his beloved gardens. It traces how his ideas about ecological harmony and seeing humanity as part of nature have shaped his life’s work. It features new footage filmed at the beautiful Highgrove House Gardens, showing Charles walking among the vegetable plots he has developed and cared for over the decades.

If these gardens are a hint of what we can expect to see from the Royal Legacy Garden, then we have very high hopes indeed.


Tickets for the RHS Sandringham Flower Show are available online. However, for those who can't make the trip, this book offers a detailed insight into the estate, focusing on the evolving architecture and changing decor across the centuries.

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Megan Slack
Head of Celebrity Style News

Megan is the Head of Celebrity Style News at Homes & Gardens, where she leads the celebrity/ news team. She has a history in interior design, travel, and news journalism, having lived and worked in New York, Paris, and, currently, London. Megan has bylines in Livingetc, The Telegraph, and IRK Magazine, and has interviewed the likes of Drew Barrymore, Ayesha Curry, Michelle Keegan, and Tan France, among others. She lives in a London apartment with her antique typewriter and an eclectic espresso cup collection, and dreams of a Kelly Wearstler-designed home.