
Beckham teams up with King and Queen at Chelsea Flower Show
Beckham, who was last year named an ambassador of the King's Foundation, met the King and Queen at the Highgrove stand in the world-famous event in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea.
The former England footballer, who previously swapped bee-keeping tips with the King, is backing the foundation's new campaign.
The project, to be launched later this year, is designed to inspire young people to take up careers in horticulture.
It will also be backed by Alan Titchmarsh, the TV presenter and King's Foundation ambassador who joined Beckham and the King at RHS Chelsea.
The King carried a traditional country fair walking stick. He 'loves' such crooks and has collections of them at all his residences, a source said.
On display at the Highgrove shop stand was the King's Rose, a new pink-and-white bloom named in the monarch's honour.
The flower was created by David Austin Roses in collaboration with the King's Foundation, and has been carefully nurtured by the King's gardeners at Highgrove for the last three years.
The King was due to pull back a curtain to officially open the shop and reveal the roses, proudly displayed in a Highgrove wicker basket. For every rose sold, £2.50 will be donated to the foundation.
The name was inspired by David Austin's first encounter with the King, then Prince of Wales, at Chelsea in the 1990s, when they discovered that they had both grown the similarly-striped Ferdinand Pichard as the first rose in their garden.
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester also toured RHS Chelsea on Monday evening, as did Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.
Among the gardens on the King's tour was the Hospice UK: Garden of Compassion, which draws on the spirit of Mediterranean landscapes to show thoughtfully designed spaces can help provide comfort and calm at the end of life.
The King was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer last year and continues to receive weekly treatment.
Beckham has become increasingly close to the royals since becoming an ambassador for the King's Foundation.
In December, both David and his fashion designer wife Victoria joined the King and Queen at a state banquet at Buckingham Palace, held in honour of the Qatari ruler.
In February, the couple were among the King's guests at a black tie dinner at Highgrove to celebrate Anglo-Italian relations and the following month, Victoria Beckham was invited to Buckingham Palace for a Women of the World event hosted by the Queen.
Beckham is also on friendly terms with the Prince of Wales, whom he joined last October to celebrate the replacement of London's ageing air ambulance helicopters.
His latest appearance alongside the King coincides with a seemingly bitter family feud which has seen Beckham's elder son, Brooklyn, increasingly estranged from his parents and siblings.
A source close to Brooklyn, 26, told the Telegraph last week that he and his wife, Nicola Peltz-Beckham, the daughter of Nelson Peltz, the US billionaire, feel that they have no meaningful private connection with the family and that he has been made to feel like an 'idiot' and 'stupid'.
The younger Beckhams were recent guests at a Montecito party attended by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, where Peltz, 30, and Meghan were said to have found 'common ground' over being cast as meddling American wives breaking up Britain's most famous families.
The source told The Telegraph the young couple had 'found Harry and Meghan to be particularly kind, caring and generous' at the gathering, hosted by Brian Robbins, a neighbour of the Sussexes in Montecito and the chief executive of Paramount, the media company.
The encounter drew comparisons between both family rifts, with the Sussexes still similarly estranged from the rest of the Royal family.
Monty Don's dog-themed garden
Meanwhile, the King and Queen viewed several gardens at RHS Chelsea, including the RHS and BBC Radio 2 Dog Garden, designed by Monty Don.
The garden, designed with dogs in mind, features grass areas for dogs to enjoy and a large tree providing shade. The brick paths are inscribed with the names of dogs belonging to Radio 2 presenters and RHS ambassadors, as well as Bluebell, the Queen's Jack Russell Terrier, Moley, her new puppy, and Snuff, the King's dog.
The garden will be transplanted to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, of which the Queen is patron, when the flower show ends.
The King also visited the King's Trust Garden, inspired by the potential of the more than one million young people supported by the charity since it was founded in 1976.
The garden showcases the ability of seeds to adapt and flourish in hostile environments, drawing parallels with the resilience of young people who can overcome adversity and thrive when given the right support.
Another stop on the royal tour was the Wildlife Trust's British Rainforest Garden, designed to evoke the wild and wet woodlands that once swathed the British west coast.
Beckham also visited the London Square Chelsea Pensioners Garden, designed by Dave Green, an accessible and secluded space to be based at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, home to the famous Chelsea Pensioners.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mail
7 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Truth behind Cotswolds 'poshfluencer' Lydia Millen: Her VERY different background and the unearthed Daily Mail interview she gave with her husband that she'd perhaps rather forget...
With a different pair of Hunter wellies for every day of the week, an array of Barbour jackets, her own thoroughbred pony and a vast collection of designer bags, Lydia Millen embodies what many would consider the epitome of very British luxury. Her Instagram page is full of carefully curated photos featuring wildflower meadows and beach holidays and videos talking through her designer outfits in perfectly clipped vowels. Recent snaps show her driving down country roads in Land Rovers and on days out to Ascot and .


Daily Mail
9 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
EastEnders star set to make surprise return to the soap three years after leaving Albert Square
An EastEnders star is reportedly set to make surprise return to the soap three years after leaving Albert Square. The character, who first set foot in Albert Square back in 2018 had a spell of intense storylines over the years. Stuart Highway will make an appearance in Walford for a 'limited period,' but is set to cause some drama, according to The Sun. Played by Ricky Champ, 45, he left the soap in 2022 alongside his on-screen wife Rainie Cross (played by Tanya Franks). Stuarts major stories included confessing to accidentally killing DI Steve Thompson (Philip Wright) - who later turned out be alive. He also admitted to being a vigilante paedophile hunter which stemmed from being sexually abused as a child. Stuart was at the centre of a father's post-natal depression storyline, with the character struggling to bond with his baby Roland. He had struggled with his mental health after his diagnosis with breast cancer and had trouble adjusting to parenthood after he and wife Rainie (Tanya Franks) tried for a child for a long time. 'In EastEnders I went from villain to hero to dad,' he told Digital Spy at the time of his exit. 'It was amazing, doing that for five years with a character's arc. It felt weird leaving him,' he admitted. At the time Ricky didn't rule out a return to the soap someday, as he claimed that anything was possible. 'He didn't die. He rode off into the sunset. I think he's somewhere in the North Circular living with Rainie,' he said of his character. Outside of EastEnders, Ricky's additional ventures include his role as Paul Parker in the BBC Three sitcom Him & Her and a Games Of Thrones appearance as Gatins. Daily Mail has contacted the BBC for comment. 'In EastEnders I went from villain to hero to dad,' he told Digital Spy at the time of his exit in 2022 but he will be back for a 'limited period' Elsewhere, an EastEnders legend is facing the sack after a whopping 40 years in job - and fans of the BBC soap aren't happy about it. Beloved character Tracey, who is played by actress Jane Slaughter, has been on the show since 1985. Over the years the barmaid, who rarely has any speaking lines, has become a huge fan favourite while serving many punters at the Queen Vic. But a recent episode of EastEnders raised a few alarm bells with viewers after Kat Slater's (Jessie Wallace) nephew Freddie (Bobby Brazier) put forward the idea of working for her and take over from Tracey. Kat and Alfie Moon (Shane Richie) became the new owners of the pub earlier this month, after taking over from Linda Carter (Kellie Bright). During Tuesday's instalment of the BBC show, Freddie asked for a job, but was told that they didn't have enough money for him to join the team behind the bar. Freddie went on to tell Alfie and Kat that he would be able to work for half of what Tracey is currently paid. It's no wonder that the bartender is such a popular character on the show, having been on EastEnders since the very beginning. Tracey appeared on the very first episode back in 1985. She is the longest-serving character to ever take part in the popular programme having no breaks or exits. Although the character rarely says a word on the show, back in 2022 she made a shocking revelation about Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden). She confessed that Phil was the 'best sex she's ever had'


Daily Mail
10 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Stephen Fry weighs in on the AI debate and says humans are not 'evolved' to work: 'The big mistake we made was to stop and settle'
Stephen Fry has weighed in on the ongoing debate around artificial intelligence and revealed why he doesn't think human beings are 'evolved' to work. There has been much debate around how AI technology will reshape the job market, with many actors in particular protesting its use in Hollywood. Now, Blackadder star Stephen has weighed in and argued that human beings were never 'evolved' to work steady 9-5 jobs in the first place. Speaking to Alan Carr on his Life's A Beach podcast, he explained: 'We're going to have to re-examine what work means over the next decade as we know because of AI and so on. 'And this idea that jobs will be taken and there will be a large percentage now of the population where the mixture of robots and AI will be taking over the manual and indeed the white collar work.' 'We weren't evolved to work, work isn't a natural condition of humanity in the sense of nine to five,' he continued. 'Yes there are hunter-gatherers, you feed yourself and you find a way to feed yourself, and there are few hunter-gather tribes left, but the big mistake we made was to stop and settle.' Stephen explained that the modern day work culture was born when aristocracy emerged, which forced other people to work for them. 'You have to remember, whatever you see from AI now, it's never going to be this primitive again... AI now is the equivalent of a gigantic mobile phone,' he added. Stephen has been very vocal about both the pros and cons of AI in recent years and has actively got involved in the debate about the purpose and ethics of the tech. An AI version of Stephen's voice was used at Hay Festival this year in an art installation, called Vocalize, to 'confront the future of AI, identity, and truth'. Led by an AI-powered version of Stephen, visitors were given the chance to get their very own voiceover training session to learn the tricks of the trade. However, just as visitors were finding their voice, things took an unexpected turn, according to an online description of the event. The installation came two years after Stephen shared his concerns after discovering that an AI recording of his voice had been created without his knowledge. Back in 2023, Stephen told of his shock upon learning that his recordings of the seven Harry Potter audiobooks had been used to recreate his voice with AI. 'I said not one word of that – it was a machine. Yes, it shocked me,' he said at the time during an appearance at the CogX Festival. 'What you heard was not the result of a mash-up. This is from a flexible artificial voice, where the words are modulated to fit the meaning of each sentence. It could therefore have me read anything from a call to storm Parliament to hard p**n, all without my knowledge and without my permission.' The actor revealed his agents went 'ballistic' when they learnt of the recreation, but he warned them: 'You ain't seen nothing yet.' 'When it comes to AI models, what we have now will advance at a faster rate than any technology we have ever seen. One thing we can all agree on: It's a f***ing weird time to be alive,' he added.