HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IS TICKLED PINK
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN LOOKS RADIANT AS SHE HELPS PLANT A TREE DURING HER VISIT TO CAMBRIDGE
Her Majesty the Queen was clearly tickled pink to indulge in her passion for gardening during a royal visit to Cambridge last week. Flexing her green fingers (clad in white gloves, of course!) as she visited the National Institute of Agricultural Botany, she surprised officials by offering to plant a hornbeam sapling.
The initial idea was for the Queen to supervise the ceremonial planting, which marks the institute’s centenary. But the 93-year-old monarch remarked: ‘No, no, I can still plant a tree,’ before giving someone her famous Launer handbag to hold, adding: ‘Because I can’t do both!’
She then seized the spade and proceeded to shovel three loads of soil over the tree’s roots, joking: ‘Somebody’s going to have to plant it properly now.’
After viewing an exhibition celebrating 100 years of crop research, she had lunch at Queens’ College Cambridge, of which she is a patron. She then opened a new facility at the Royal Papworth Hospital.
The Queen has always enjoyed gardening and nature, teaming up with Sir David Attenborough for last year’s documentary The Queen’s Green Planet, which saw the pair strolling through the gardens of Buckingham Palace.
Onlookers last week marvelled at the monarch’s good health amid rumours that she’ll hand over her royal duties to her son Prince Charles when she hits 95.
As well as staying active with regular horse rides, former royal chef, Darren Mcgrady, has revealed that her strict diet also keeps her healthy. Describing her preferred dinner of grilled or poached fish with vegetables and salad, he said: ‘That’s all she has. She could have anything she wanted, but it’s that discipline that keeps her so well.’
In other news, there was a security scare at the palace last week when an intruder broke in while the Queen was asleep just metres away. The culprit, who’d scaled a fence, was apprehended by police officers within minutes.