For the past three months, Kate Middleton has secretly been toiling away on a passion project. With the help of landscape architecture firm Davies White, Middleton is designing a garden for the Chelsea Flower Show, the Palace has just revealed.
From what we can gather, this sounds much more considered than your average flower arrangement. Middleton is using the show's platform to advocate for "the outdoors and the proven benefits that nature has on physical and mental health," per the Palace's statement.
The Duchess's collaborators, Andrée Davies and Adam White, told The Telegraph that she's been in touch with them almost every day as they work on the project. "[Middleton] is very hands on, model making, emailing images, coming up with all the ideas that we want to capture," Davies said. "She would often bring a folder of cuttings with her full of ideas."
The pair also revealed a few of Middleton's inspirations, including Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv, who believes the youth may suffer from "nature deficit disorder," and the Japanese concept of "forest bathing," where in office employees spend their lunch breaks relaxing in nature.
All of this was announced just before the Duchess visited King Henry’s Walk Garden, a volunteer-run community garden that among other programs, hosts workshops and events for children. "Do you all like learning outside?" she asked the children playing with her in the garden. "There's so much to discover isn't there? It's really fun. If you haven't tried it, you don't know how cool it is."
We'll be able to see the final design—and hopefully spend some time communing with nature—when the flower show opens in late May.
Chloe is a News Writer for Townandcountrymag.com, where she covers royal news, from the latest additions to Meghan Markle’s staff to Queen Elizabeth’s monochrome fashions; she also writes about culture, often dissecting TV shows like The Marvelous Mrs Maisel and Killing Eve.
