Queen’s lament at noise of jets f lying over one’s garden

THE Queen has bemoaned the noise from the Heathrow flight path over her beloved Windsor gardens – a tranquil haven in Victoria’s day.

Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time featured a visit to the gardens in yesterday’s programme.

‘I very much hope you have enjoyed visiting Frogmore House and Gardens, which holds a special place in my family’s affections,’ the Queen told listeners in a recorded message.

‘Indeed, I would echo the sentiments of Queen Victoria who, 150 years ago, wrote of this dear lovely garden where “all is peace and you only hear the hum of bees, the singing of the birds”.

‘These days there is more noise from the air than in 1867, but Frogmore remains a wonderfully relaxing environment.’

During the programme, a recording made by garden keeper John Anderson was played – and the sound of planes roaring overhead could clearly be heard. In the address recorded to mark the show’s 70th anniversary, the Queen said: ‘I have an early memory of my mother Queen Elizabeth being a hands-on gardener, a tradition that has been followed by other members of my family.’

Mr Anderson told the show’s host Peter Gibbs: ‘The Queen certainly knows her stuff. She certainly knows a lot about gardening and plants and knows what she likes.’

But asked whether the Queen would get her hands dirty, Mr Anderson said tactfully: ‘She would leave that role to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.’ The show gave the Queen a daphne bholua shrub from Nepal to mark her platinum wedding anniversary next month.