Flowers grown in every corner of the United Kingdom are now decked around Westminster Abbey for the Coronation.
King Charles and Queen Camilla have chosen over 120 kinds of flowers and foliage to decorate the Abbey for the ceremony.
All have been grown by a non profit organisation championing artisan growers of cut flowers called Flowers from the Farm. The Royal Horticultural Society has provided the foliage at the High Altar.
The blooms have been grown in every part of the country, from Cornwall in the south west of England to the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides, off the north west coast of Scotland.
There are a series of different arrangements throughout the Abbey for the Coronation. Shane Connolly, who did the flowers and floral arrangements for the wedding of King Charles and Queen Camilla as well as for the wedding of the Prince and Princess of Wales, has designed the creations.
At the Great West Door, where Their Majesties will arrive for the ceremony, there will be two tall yew topiaries. They are both planted in a meadow of wild grasses, primroses, violets and cowslips. With sustainability in mind, the yews will be replanted later at Sandringham where they will grow into a permanent tribute to the Coronation.
Seasonal flowers deck the Quire and the Coronation theatre, the space before the High Altar designed under the guidance of Henry III in the 13th century to be a setting for the crowning of monarchs. The floral arrangements here take on the colours of majesty and reflect the robes used by The King and Queen as well as the materials on the High Altar and the pattern of the famous Cosmati pavement on which the Coronation will take place.
These all important blooms are red, burgundy, deep gold, purple and pink. Among them are one of King Charles III’s favourite flowers, the hellebore, along with jasmine, honeysuckle, tulips, ranunculus and blossom to reflect the season of spring. These arrangements also feature aquilegia which is an ancient symbol of the Holy Spirit.
The flowers will be set among foliage which includes birch, hazel, bay, wild broom and rosemary, which denotes remembrance.
The High Altar will be decorated with foliage including crab apple blossom, camellia, acer, hazel, rhododendron, azalea, amelanchier and two rather special cuttings of beech.
One set of beech is taken from the pair of Dawyck trees planted by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at RHS Wisley in 1978. Another set of beech comes from an ancient cluster of trees at RHS Bridgewater which was visited by Queen Victoria.
Special attention has been paid to the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior which will be decorated with spring flowers denoting remembrance. These include cowslips, lily of the valley and auricula. There are also springs of bay to denote virtue and bluebells and forget-me-nots for constancy of love. The last of this year’s daffodils have also been used, to symbolise chivalry while lilac is scattered among them poignantly to recall memories of youth. Sprigs of rosemary, for remembrance, are threaded through the meadow of flowers made for the Tomb.
After the Coronation, the flowers will be given to Floral Angels, a charity that repurposes arrangements from events and makes them into bouquets for care homes, hospices and shelters. Queen Camilla is their patron.
The Coronation takes place on May 6th 2023.
