The Duchess of Cornwall calls flowers ‘nature’s healers in these difficult times’

The Duchess of Cornwall has heralded the power of flowers to ‘lift our spirits’ as she took part in an initiative to support British Flowers Week.

Camilla, 72, a keen gardener, placed a bouquet of her home-grown blooms in the window of the Birkhall residence in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where she has been isolating with Prince Charles, 71. 

New Covent Garden Market, which runs British Flowers Week, is calling on the public to join in by positioning British-grown flowers in their windows, front porches or gates where passers-by can see them.

Charles and Camilla will be the second royals to take part in a royal engagement following the lockdown, and are returning to Clarence House to welcome French President Emmanuel Macron to London on Thursday. 

Speaking in a video message, which showed another angle at her Birkhall home office, Camilla said: ‘In these difficult times, when we are all searching for something to brighten our lives, there is nothing that can lift our spirits more than our native flowers and plants.

‘They are nature’s healers. In our gardens, in our window boxes, or even in just a simple vase, their glorious scents and myriad of colours are veritable life enhancers.’

The duchess’s colourful bouquet was made of flowers she grew, picked and arranged herself.

It included forgot-me-nots, cranesbill, alchemilla, tulips, peonies, poppies, cow parsley and Solomon’s Seal.

The view into Camilla’s office saw a fresh angle at a shelf filled with black and white family photos. 

Camilla, is also patron of Floral Angels, a charity based at New Covent Garden’s Flower Market, which recycles flowers used at weddings and events into smaller bouquets to send out to community organisations, such as care homes and hospices.

She added: ‘That is why, this year in particular, British Flowers Week is even more important than ever.

‘As the Patron of Floral Angels, who are based at the market, I would like to say a huge thank you to the New Covent Garden Market and The Garden Museum for making this celebration of the wealth and variety of British-grown flowers possible, and to the people behind them; the growers, the gardeners, the florists and everyone who appreciates their beauty and their contribution to our well-being.

‘Keep safe and ‘Say it with flowers’.’

Rebecca Barrett, of the Covent Garden Market Authority, said: ‘As we see non-essential retailers including florists and New Covent Garden’s Flower Market itself reopen to the public on Monday 15th June, it’s more important than ever to show your support for independent British florists and growers.’ 

The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will be among the first members of the royal family to leave lockdown and attend a major event when they welcome French President Emmanuel Macron to the UK.

Charles, 71, and Camilla, 72, will travel from their home at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, to London, where the official greeting will take place at Clarence House next Thursday.

Clarence House said the meeting is being held to celebrate the 80th anniversary of General Charles de Gaulle’s appeal to the French population to resist the German occupation of France during the Second World War.

Their visit will be just two days after Princess Anne, 69, will become the first royal to return to working in-person with an engagement scheduled for next week to visit the Duke of Gloucester Barracks.

Charles and his wife have spent almost three months at Birkhall in Scotland, where the heir to the throne recovered from Covid-19 after he contracted the virus in March, suffering with mild symptoms.

They have been carrying out royal engagements remotely – via video calls or recording video messages of support – and are said to be ‘pleased’ to be welcoming Mr Macron to the country.