Alan remembers HM The Queen

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Queen Elizabeth II and Alan planting a palm tree at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, in 2004; The Queen and Prince Philip survey the grounds of Sandringham House, Norfolk; Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, with their parents King George VI and the then Queen Elizabeth explore a rockery at the Royal Lodge, Windsor; The Queen toured this year’s Chelsea Flower Show by golf buggy; Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, explaining the garden she helped design for the 2019 Chelsea Flower Show; Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle with a beloved corgi

She loved primroses, lily of the valley and other modest blooms – something that spoke volumes about her personality

w ildf lowers, a rill fed by water spilling out of an old v illage pump and vegetables in neat rows either side of a brick path. I was mistaken. Just as I assumed she would be whisked past my creation, the president of the societ y ushered The Queen across the w ide expanse of tarmac and told her my name. For the first time I found myself on the receiv ing end of that famous smile and led Her Majest y for ward to examine my handiwork. She seemed genuinely interested and mentioned my “clipped ilex”. Surprise number one: The Queen used the Latin name for holly. Then her gaze turned towards my vegetables. “Your onions are rather small,” she remarked. I found myself at a loss for an excuse. I need not have worried. After a pause, she added, “I like them small; when they’re large they taste of nothing at all.”

Over t he nex t t hir t y-odd years my encounters w it h t he sovereig n might have kept me on my mett le but t hey were never less t han enjoyable. I had t he pleasure of sitt ing nex t to her at lunch on a couple of occasions and found her conversat ion to be rela xed, sur prisingly opinionated and well laced w it h humour. During her lifet ime I adhered to t he ma x im t hat private conversat ions w it h Her Majest y remained private. Only now does it seem appropriate to ref lect on some of her likes and dislikes.

Prince Philip’s gardening projects, for instance, did not always meet w it h her approval. I remember her describing t he ‘water feature’ he was creat ing among t rees to t he sout h west of Balmoral Cast le as “not my sor t of gardening”.

“W hat sor t of gardening is t hat ma’am?” I enquired.

“The sor t t hat uses a bulldozer” she replied.

The Queen’s preference was for posies rat her t han bouquets. W hen in residence during t he week at Buck ingham Palace, t he gardeners would send up a fresh posy of f lowers for her desk ever y Monday on her return from Windsor Cast le. She loved primroses, lily of t he valley and ot her modest blooms far more t han elaborate exot ics – somet hing t hat speaks volumes about her personalit y.

Having addressed the Sandringham Women’s Institute Annual General Meeting in Januar y 2000, I asked Her Majest y if she found her Norfolk garden rather dull in w inter. She indicated other w ise. “I like the w itch hazels,” she said, “though they are now so tall I have to jump up to smell them”, at which point she did a little jump in the air to demonstrate. On my return home I ordered half a dozen young plants to be dispatched to Sandringham and received a letter of thanks for my trouble.

On her accession in 1952, The Queen appointed Prince Philip as the Ranger of Windsor Great Park, and relied upon him to take charge of new plantings there, and on the other royal estates at Balmoral and Sandringham. After the publication of my book Royal Gardeners in 2003, I sent a copy to the palace – and received thanks and a long letter in reply from Prince Philip