King and Queen present awards on visit to first RHS Sandringham Flower Show

The King and Queen presented awards on a visit to the first RHS Sandringham Flower Show, including to a display called The Queen Bee made from upcycled containers – with tin can bees.

Camilla presented Her Majesty The Queen’s Special Award for Upcycled Container Gardens to the bee-themed exhibit, designed and created by Ingoldisthorpe Church of England Primary School, close to Sandringham.

The Queen Bee garden, designed by Ingoldisthorpe Church of England Primary School, won Her Majesty The Queen’s Special Award for Upcycled Container Gardens (Aaron Chown/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Aaron Chown

After handing a framed certificate to two adult representatives from the school, she said that The Queen Bee was “absolutely charming”, adding: “A lot of hard work went into that.”

Charles and Camilla arrived at the event, the first RHS show to be hosted at a royal residence, by horse-drawn carriage.

They travelled from Sandringham House down a track through the Old Norwich Gates before they were helped down from the carriage at the show site on Wednesday.

The King and Queen arrived at the inaugural flower show by horse-drawn carriage (Chris Jackson/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Chris Jackson

The King, in a light-coloured suit and carrying a walking stick, and the Queen – who wore a green and white patterned dress – listened to a string quartet play the national anthem.

There was a round of applause from well-wishers behind a rope fence, before they were taken around a series of show gardens.

Gardening charity the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is hosting its own horticultural event at the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk for the first time this year in place of the annual Sandringham Flower Show.

Charles and Camilla were shown a series of garden displays at the flower show (Aaron Chown/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Aaron Chown

The Sandringham Estate has agreed the RHS can host a horticultural show once every three years at the site.

The first of these is from July 22 to 26 this year, with the next planned in 2029.

The Sandringham Flower Show, which dates back to 1881, is run by a trust made up of a committee of volunteers and will return in 2027 and 2028.

The King described the displays as ‘fantastic’ (Aaron Chown/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Aaron Chown

Charles and Camilla visited the RHS Royal Legacy Garden, designed by garden designer Catherine MacDonald in collaboration with the King, and the King said it was “fantastic”.

The King and Queen went on a series of walkabouts during their visit, and one man told the King “I’m the same age as you”.

The King replied: “It gets much worse, doesn’t it.”

The King presented awards for The Best Exhibit in the Floral Marquee Award (Chris Jackson/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Chris Jackson

Charles later presented a wooden plaque and glass trophy for The Best Exhibit in the Floral Marquee Award to Colin and Esta Jones from Roaleyn Fuchsias of Trefriw in the Conwy Valley of north Wales.

On a further walkabout, the King asked a group of schoolchildren if they grew vegetables at school and a teacher said that they grew tomatoes and herbs.

Charles met with members of the public (Aaron Chown/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Aaron Chown

Charles asked if they had tried eating them, and when told that they had not, the King said: “Have you tried spinach? It’s the best thing in the world.”

He wished them “a very nice holidays”.

The King and Queen returned to their Sandringham residence by horse-drawn carriage (Chris Jackson/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Chris Jackson

After taking time to speak to many people in the crowd, Charles and Camilla got back into their carriage – pulled by two white horses – and headed back towards Sandringham House.