Royal row at Chelsea Flower Show

by Rachel Nixon | May 21, 2008 at 10:51 am | 344 views | 1 comment

A Royal storm in a teacup has erupted at the usually genteel Chelsea Flower Show in London. Australian gold-medal winner Jamie Durie found himself accidentally upsetting the Duke of Edinburgh as he toured his display.

GARDENING guru Jamie Durie caused a royal stir after correcting Prince Philip, who fancies himself a bit of a greenthumb.

As Durie welcomed the prince to his $800,000 gold-medal winning display at the Chelsea Flower Show, the 86-year-old royal visitor noticed what appeared to be a tree fern -- and remarked that it was a fine specimen.

There was just one problem. It wasn't a tree fern.

Durie politely corrected the prince, telling him the plant was in fact a macrozamia moorei, a member of the cycad family. But Prince Philip was not amused.

He promptly walked off, muttering under his breath: "I didn't come here to get a lesson."

The prince's reaction stunned Durie, who had just spent a few minutes showing the Queen around his display.

"It was my first experience of Prince Philip," he said.

"He said to me, 'I do like your tree fern'.

"I said, 'Actually, it's not a tree fern, it's a member of the cycad family. It's a macrozamia moorei'.

"And with that, he walked off. As he was walking away he said, 'I didn't come here to get a lesson' under his breath.

"I didn't hear him say it. One of the boys heard him.

"I thought, 'Well, you did ask'. I was trying to be as courteous as I could. I was a bit shocked, I didn't mean to offend him. Maybe he was a bit tired, I don't know."

The Durie team took it in good spirits, coming up with a new word for being royally snubbed -- "Philiped".

As for the Queen, Durie was thrilled with that encounter.

"I can't believe gardening has enabled us to meet the Queen," he said.

"She was really pleasant. I think she was quite taken with the garden. I couldn't believe how generous she was with her time and how positive she was. It was an honour."