How Their Gardens Grew – Part II

by The Laird o’Thistle
July 19 2009

As I return to my theme from two months ago, on the royal gardens and gardeners of Great Britain, it is good to note that it is the royal garden party season.  Both at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh and at Buckingham Palace this is the time of year when the Queen and her family welcome thousands of people into their precincts come rain – even in buckets – or shine.  One of my longtime favorite documentaries on the Queen, Elizabeth R done back in 1992, actually features a garden party in Edinburgh for gardeners and includes a delightful moment in which the Queen tells one that “I’m a weeder!”

But to resume back where I left off, as in most things the royal gardens took a turn in Queen Victoria’s day.  Victoria primarily loved to sit in gardens and summer houses, but the active involvement came from the Prince Consort.  As happened with many country estates, the mid-19th century became a time for developing the cultivation of vegetables and fruits on a large scale, aided by the erection of massive greenhouse complexes for the year-round supply of fresh food along with large scale canning for the use of the household.  Such were the fifty acres of kitchen gardens at Windsor under Albert’s watch, and later as updated by Edward VII.

Otherwise, the era of Victoria saw a shift in interest from the now “Crown” owned palaces and castles over to the private homes of the Sovereign.  Victoria and Albert built themselves two great homes, Osborne on the Isle of Wight, and Balmoral in the Highlands.  The years after Albert’s death were also the years when the Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra were undertaking their own development of Sandringham.

Beginning in 1844 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert began the planning and building of Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.  Because the bay there reminded Albert of Naples, the style for the house and the gardens was based on an Italian Renaissance theme, with an elaborate set of formal terraces, balustrades, statues, fountains, and parterres.  And as the prince was a stickler for details in all things he was deeply involved in the planning and development of the gardens, sometimes guiding the placement of larger plantings from the tower of the house in order to achieve the best visual effects.  Plants from around the world were included, and as Sir Roy Strong noted in his book on the royal gardens, such Victorian gardens were the first to use hothouse raised annuals as bedding plants on a wide scale often resulting in what he called a “hectic tonality.”  The other development at Osborne was around the little Swiss cottage on the grounds where the royal children cultivated their own vegetable plots.  After Albert’s death the bereft Queen wanted all kept as close as possible to how he had laid things out, and so it was.

Balmoral was acquired by the royal couple in 1852.  Though often described as Scottish baronial in style, the castle itself blends in stylistic elements from Prince Albert’s native Thuringia along with some designs of a more Elizabethan feel.  In contrast with Osborne, the focus at Balmoral was on the surrounding landscape and forest.  What garden there was hugged modestly up against the castle.

Victoria’s own most personal garden, again according to Roy Strong, was the one at Frogmore House at Windsor, which adjoined the newly constructed royal mausoleum.  In later years Victoria spent much of her time working in the summer house in the grounds, with the surrounding garden becoming ever more overgrown… a symbol of her own deep withdrawal from active public life into the undergrowth of bereavement.

Although the future Edward VII as Prince of Wales made noises about an interest in gardening, the real gardener in the pairing of Edward and Alexandra was the princess.  In the development of Sandringham, the prince did undertake the development of large kitchen gardens, virtually on a semi-industrial level.  The grounds were developed more along the “landscape” tradition over against the more formal gardens at Osborne.  Laid out by William Broderick Thomas, the Sandringham gardens had a limited formal parterre immediately adjoining the main house that quickly resolved into lawns and woodland meanders.  Thomas re-did the older ornamental lake near the house site into two more distant lakes with various interwoven cascades and rivulets.  Water-lilies were prominent in the style of the time.  Unlike the old Capability Brown style, however, the woodland meanders near the house were heavily planted with herbaceous borders, constantly extended further and further afield by the princess.  Alexandra also strongly encouraged her gardeners to do more with wildflower plantings around the grounds.  Interestingly, one of the two formal garden areas by the house was an Italian garden laid out by Edward’s cousin Mary Adelaide, the mother of the future Queen Mary.  Later developments included the 1896 “Rosary” with some 1300 varieties of roses, and a Dutch garden adjoining the dairy.  The Sandringham gardens were very much an expression of their era.  And like that era they gave way to great changes as the 20th century progressed through its wars, the Depression, and so on.  But the vastly simplified landscaping surrounding the great house still holds echoes of its Edwardian grandeur.

Although both King George V and Queen Mary had mothers with an interest in gardening, neither one of them were known to be personally keen on it.  Queen Mary certainly enjoyed visiting gardens and established the strong link between the royals and the Chelsea Flower Show that persists to this day.  But, she is mainly credited with the redevelopment of the small west garden at Balmoral, and the development of the small formal herbaceous garden to the south of the castle down by the River Dee, a garden which has been extended in the current reign.  (All of which is a bit odd, as Queen Mary disliked Balmoral in much the same way as did the late Princess Diana.  She preferred city life with access to antique shops, museums, and theatres.)  Otherwise, somewhat like her granddaughter the weeder, Queen Mary is chiefly remembered for her war against ivy… which she despised.  During World War II she was also famous for leading expeditions to cut brush (and gather fuel) on the grounds of her niece’s home at Badminton, where she had been evacuated to safety.  On one occasion said niece, the Duchess of Beaufort, had to pull rank as hostess on her royal aunt to save a particularly beloved tree which the old queen had ordered removed.

Having skipped a generation, at least two of George V and Queen Mary’s children became avid gardeners.  Beginning with the acquisition of his lease on Fort Belvedere during his years as Prince of Wales, the late Duke of Windsor became noted for his “hands on” gardening.  Later, in the 1950s when he and the Duchess acquired their privately owned country home near Paris, The Mill, he resumed his gardening efforts with great zest.  The latter garden, unfortunately, did not survive after the Windsors gave up the retreat as they aged.

Better known as gardeners were King George VI and the late Queen Mother.  While I wonder if some of his interest may have derived from his grandmother Queen Alexandra, the datable beginning of “Bertie’s” interest in gardening seems to have been their acquisition of the Royal Lodge at Windsor in 1931.  Elizabeth’s interest is traced to her mother, Lady Strathmore, who developed a notable garden at Glamis and was shared with her youngest brother David Bowes-Lyon.  Back at the time of the Queen Mother’s 90th birthday one of the few “interviews” she ever gave to television involved a tour through the rhododendron and azalea walk at Royal Lodge with the late Sir Martin Charteris as they talked about the work to create the woodland garden and the “kind people” who lent a hand in the effort.  In the old lady’s mind, it definitively was “the King’s” garden.  The second of the King’s gardens was the new formal garden created at Sandringham right after WWII by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe, who had also advised on the gardens immediately around Royal Lodge.  The multi-roomed garden was set among boxwood hedges with herbaceous beds replacing the more labor-intensive annuals of earlier generations.  Unfortunately, that garden was still a work in process at the time of the King’s death in 1952, and some of the plans was never realized.

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother went on in her half century as a widow to develop three gardens that were very much her own.  Her relatively small (half acre) urban garden at Clarence House in London incorporated the surviving features of the gardens of St. James’ Palace dating back to the 17th century, into which she integrated a wide variety of beloved plants and trees, including magnolias.  The most prominently mentioned feature of the garden is the pair of great London Plane trees that provided the canopy for H.M.’s famous outdoor birthday luncheons.  The Queen Mum’s love of her garden even influenced the architecture of the house, as in the 1960s she combined Princess Margaret’s former ground floor sitting room and an adjoining room into her “garden room.”  While some changes have been undertaken by the Prince of Wales since he moved into Clarence House, various elements of the Queen Mother’s garden plan have been preserved.

The Queen Mum also spent years developing the garden at Birkhall, adjoining Balmoral.  This garden has also now passed to the Prince of Wales.  The Birkhall garden was a late Victorian style revival of the old Scottish “pleasaunce” gardens which intermingle flowers, fruits, and vegetables.  With some modifications, the essential layout of the garden was maintained by the Q.M., with her own choices of plantings being integrated into the traditional setting.

The totally new garden created by Queen Elizabeth in her widowhood was the garden at the Castle of Mey, the home in Caithness which she purchased and restored from the verge of ruin.  As at Birkhall the Queen Mother created a traditional “pleasaunce” garden, but in the harsh and windy conditions of the northern Scottish seacoast, she created her garden “rooms” with high stone walls and thick hedges to create appropriate microclimates in which more delicate plants might grow.  Now owned by the Castle of Mey Trust, this may be the one of the Queen Mother’s gardens that will continue to be maintained in the way she originally created it.

While Sir Roy Strong was generally correct in saying that the current Queen and Prince Philip are not avid gardeners, they have done some things that bear noting.  Across both the Crown Estate properties and their private estates, the last 57 years have been a time of change dictated by the need for simpler landscaping and gardening plans that are less labor intensive and more easily maintained.  That said, Prince Philip is responsible for the redesign of the East Terrace Garden at Windsor Castle from the rather unfortunately baroque design that had been in place since the reign of George IV to the simple but attractive set of rose beds arranged in a sort of ray pattern projecting out from the central fountain… creating a sort of Celtic cross design.  A small private garden for the personal use of the royal family has been developed along the south wall of the East Terrace, and in 2002 the Jubilee Garden was opened.  Under Prince Philip’s aegis, the riverside flower gardens at Balmoral have been extended, and he was responsible for the addition of the Water Garden there.  New kitchen gardens were also developed at Balmoral in the 1950s, closer into the castle than the old ones.

The major royal gardener of this era is, without a doubt, the Prince of Wales.  The Prince’s gardening interest took off when he acquired Highgrove, around the time of his marriage to Princess Diana in 1981.  Initially influenced by the romantic “cottage garden” style dating back to Gertrude Jekyll and the Arts and Crafts movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Prince of Wales has developed into both a designer and creator of gardens and a strong exponent of organic and ecologically friendly gardening.  In these interests, the Duchess of Cornwall is much more of a kindred spirit than was the late Princess of Wales.

In addition to the gardens at Highgrove, the Prince of Wales now has the gardens at Clarence House and at Birkhall which he inherited from his grandmother and has been modifying to his own gardening style.  At Clarence House, a new formal parterre has been developed outside the main entry colonnade, and in 2007 there were reports that a small area of the garden was being prepared for an experiment in growing vegetables and fruit in the urban setting.  Plans were also underway to experiment with collecting rainwater from the roof to use in the garden.

In these early years of the twenty-first century, Britain’s royal gardens are in their own way as much a part of the “Royal Collection” as the artworks, jewelry, gold plate, and china that pass down the generations.  Spanning nearly 350 years they are living art, reflecting the tastes and values of various eras, and at the same time, they continue to be part of the living and functioning monarchy.  They provide a wide stage for events like the summer garden parties, and also sheltered nooks for monarchs and princes to sit and ponder.  Some are repositories for exotic species gathered from around the old empire, while others are homey “pleasuances” providing beauty and provender for the family table.  All provide a place apart from the hustle and bustle of modern urbanity.

In due course, King Charles III will fall heir to the private gardens created and maintained by his royal ancestors at Sandringham and Balmoral, and he will also attain the oversight of the gardens associated with the official residences at Windsor, Buckingham Palace, and Holyrood (where the garden is sadly minimal).  Whether or not he will have the time and energy left, probably in his 70s or 80s, to place his distinctive stamp on those properties remains to be seen.  And whether any of the rising generation of royals will take up the gardening avocation is yet to appear.  I hope so.  In any event, through his books and advocacy, the current Prince of Wales will quite probably leave behind him a garden heritage greater than any of his ancestors to date, even if much of it is in other people’s gardens.

Yours aye,
Ken Cuthbertson