Chelsea Flower Show 2024: King Charles and Queen Camilla meet David Beckham – days after Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s ‘summit’ with Nicola and Brooklyn

They come from remarkably different backgrounds but have been brought together by their shared love of horticulture, of all things.

Now, the King and David Beckham have met up again at the Royal Horticultural Society’s world-famous Chelsea Flower Show – for a special meeting of green-fingered minds.

The former footballer, who is now also a King’s Foundation Ambassador, was making his RHS debut for the charity.

Beckham, 50, was formally introduced to the King and Queen at the Highgrove Shop stand, where all proceeds go towards the work of The King’s Foundation.

He also visited the London Square Chelsea Pensioners Garden, where the work of King’s Foundation furniture making alumni Lily Hitchcock and Hannah Evans was featured as the table centrepiece.

And he teamed up with another unlikely new friend – Alan Titchmarsh – for a forthcoming charity project which will aim to encourage young people to consider careers in horticulture.

King Charles was joined at the event by his wife Queen Camilla, who appeared in bright spirits while sporting a green leaf print dress from Fiona Clare London. Her husband, meanwhile, was carrying a traditional country fair walking stick. 

The couple visited the Highgrove Gardens Shop, where a new rose named after the King is to be sold to raise proceeds for the King’s Foundation.  

The royal meeting comes just days after reports that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had David’s eldest son Brooklyn and wife Nicola Peltz over for dinner in their Montecito mansion. 

Sources claimed previously that the Sussexes were said to be ‘secretly supporting’ the couple because of their ‘similar family feuds’ – after they were a noticeable no-show at the footballer’s 50th birthday celebrations earlier this month. 

The King’s Foundation is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, marking over three decades of work to build sustainable communities and transform lives, particularly through building and maintaining green spaces and encouraging learning inspired by nature amongst young people.

Last May, His Majesty, 76, met privately with Beckham at Highgrove, his private Gloucester home, and subsequently invited him to a high-profile dinner, along with his wife, Victoria, at the mansion a few months later.

The couple were also surprise guests at Buckingham Palace for a state banquet to mark the visit of the Emir of Qatar, setting the seal on their extraordinary rise in the royal court.

Last week, the Princess of Wales also wore a suit designed by Victoria Beckham for a British Fashion Council event.  

Although the pair have met on several occasions over the years, and Beckham is particularly friendly with Prince William – having fallen out with Prince Harry in recent years – Charles was particularly touched in 2023 when the star brought a jar of homemade honey from his Cotswolds estate and gave it to him at a fashion even in 2023.

‘I’ll have to swap it with the one that I do,’ the delighted monarch and fellow beekeeper said .

The pair’s surprise Chelsea encounter will undoubtedly give rise to speculation that Beckham will finally be given his much-longed for knighthood imminently.

And it will also, inevitably, spark comparisons between himself and the King given that both fathers are experiencing heart-breaking estrangements from their sons – Prince Harry in the case of the King, and eldest child Brooklyn for Beckham.

The King, who is patron of the RHS, and his wife were accompanied to the show tonight by the Duke of Edinburgh and The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.

The royal party was met by the president of the Royal Horticultural Society – the aptly named Keith Weed – before touring the gardens and viewing the displays at this year’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show, which runs from 20th to 24th May.

Meanwhile, Meghan and Nicola are said to have had a ‘deep and meaningful’ chat and share a bond after being accused by critics of being ‘homewreckers’ and women who ‘tear apart their husbands’ families’.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who enjoyed a date night at a James Taylor concert in Santa Barbara last night after going to a Beyonce gig on the weekend, had the couple over for dinner at their mansion in Montecito, California in recent weeks.

Brooklyn, 26, and Nicola, 30, who live 90 minutes away in LA, have received ‘unwavering support’ from Harry and Meghan who reportedly feel ’empathetic’ towards them amid the younger couple’s tensions with David and Victoria Beckham.

‘Brooklyn and Nicola had a wonderful time and found Harry and Meghan to be particularly kind, caring and generous’, one source said at the time.

The Duchess of Sussex ‘has a lot of sympathy for her’ because both women have been branded ‘homewreckers’, another source familiar with the dinner claimed.  

‘There was shared common ground’, the insider claimed.

‘Nicola and Meghan also had a bit of a ‘deep n’ meaningful’ as obviously both women have been positioned in the media as homewreckers – the women to tear apart their husbands’ families. 

‘Harry and Meghan were very empathetic and very kind to them both. Harry was fully aware of the situation and offered Brooklyn his unwavering support as someone who has been through similar’.

The Sussexes have apparently swapped mobile numbers with the couple amid the fallout with Brooklyn’s family being dubbed Beckxit after Harry and Meghan’s own messy feud with the prince’s British family. 

The Montecito dinner could infuriate David and Victoria Beckham who are said to have fallen out with the Sussexes in a row over allegations of leaking stories to the press.

The Mail’s Katie Hind revealed that Brooklyn has ditched his old pals in the UK and has followed Nicola’s lead when it comes to mixing in new LA circles.

David and Victoria, 51, are currently ‘heartbroken’ over the family feud after Brooklyn and Nicola were a noticeable no-show at the footballer’s 50th birthday celebrations earlier this month. 

Meanwhile, Harry launched a series of scathing attacks on the Royal Family earlier this month, saying he has been cut off from King Charles who ‘won’t speak to him’. 

And according to The Sun, Harry, Meghan, Brooklyn and Nicola found ‘common ground’ as they continue to be at the forefront of their family riffs.

A source told the publication: ‘They didn’t meet in relation to recent developments and headlines, but it was an honest but very welcome coincidence’.

People, the Sussexes’ preferred publication in the US, has suggested that Brooklyn and Nicola were not directly invited by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – although the royal couple enjoyed their company.

The dinner was for a large group of VIPs and TV and media executives. 

‘Brooklyn and Nicola were invited prior to David’s numerous global birthday galas, so the timing is pure coincidence,’ People’s source said.

‘While it was an intimate gathering, there were several additional guests, including VIPs and film executives. Brooklyn and Nicola had a wonderful time and found Harry and Meghan to be particularly kind, caring and generous’.

MailOnline previously contacted Brooklyn, Nicola and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’ representatives for comment. 

The Chelsea Flower Show opening day is always one of the most star-studded events of the year – with a sprinkling of royalty for good measure. 

The first day of this year’s event, run by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) did not disappoint as royals flocked to the Chelsea Hospital, west London, to get the first glimpse of this year’s gardens. 

Earlier today, the Princess of Wales‘s brother James Middleton and Lady Amelia Windsor led the way for the glamorous guests who attended the VIP and press day. 

James beamed as he arrive to the gardens with his two Golden Retriever’s seven-year-old Mabel and two-year-old Isla. 

The father-of-one, 38, looked smart in a cream blazer and navy chinos which he paired with a khaki shirt and brown shoes. 

Meanwhile Lady Amelia Windsor looked glamorous in a black flowing skirt and matching crop top. 

The granddaughter of the Duke of Kent completed her look with brown shoes and she accessorised with Boodles Raindance jewellery.

The first garden for the King’s Trust, designed by Joe Perkins, has a focus on adapting to climate change and the ability of ‘pioneering’ plants to thrive in extreme rainfall and drought.

Wildlife Trusts’ rainforest garden showcases the threatened Atlantic temperate rainforest habitat which once swathed western coasts of Britain.

This year garden designers have had to contend with plants not coming into flower in time for the show as a result of the dry and sunny weather as England has had the driest start to spring for decades.

Therefore, displays have had to be adapted to cope with the extreme dry conditions.  

Also in attendance this morning is former BBC broadcaster Kate Silverton, 54, looked elegant in a long cream skirt and oversized blue and white striped bell sleeve blouse. 

She completed her chic look with a cream fedora hat, wedge sandals and a glamorous silver necklace. 

Gavin and Stacey actress Alison Steadman stepped out in white trousers and a matching blouse which she paired with a pink blazer. 

Actor Paul Whitehouse also arrived at the annual event in great spirits as he posed for a slew of snaps. 

BBC Gardeners’ World presenter, Monty Don, who teamed up with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) for his first garden at Chelsea filled with features for dogs including a lawn, water to wallow in and trees to cast shade, was also spotted.

The horticulturist looked dapper in a navy suit as he arrived with his Golden Retriever Ned.

Yesterday, Monty defended the inclusion of plants that can be toxic to dogs in the garden, such as alliums and foxgloves, saying they were blooms he had alongside his pets without problems in his own garden.

The RHS and Radio 2 dog garden, which will not be judged, will be relocated to nearby Battersea Dogs & Cats Home after the world-famous event. 

Don, 69, said they would remove any plants the charity did not want to have as part of the planting.

The horticulturalist, who has presented on Chelsea since 1990 and has covered the show for the BBC without a break for more than a decade, also said creating the garden had been a ‘humbling’ process that made him ‘hugely’ respect designers and makers of gardens at RHS Chelsea.

Speaking onsite where his garden is being kept under wraps as it is constructed, he said: ‘It doesn’t matter what kind of garden or how good or bad it is, it’s an almost unimaginable amount of work because of the detail you have to attend to.’

He said he was looking forward to getting back to presenting coverage for next week’s show after his stint as a designer, which he described as ‘moonlighting’.

‘I now have real insight into the whole process. I didn’t know I needed that and I do, it’s humbling.’

Don, who was originally approached by the RHS to design a dog-friendly garden, said he did not want the project, created with horticulturalist Jamie Butterworth, to have any message except for being about dogs.

‘I wanted to see a garden at Chelsea that didn’t have a message, that didn’t set itself in an exotic situation, was absolutely set fair and square in 2025 in England and that was full of plants that either I did have or everybody could buy from their local garden centre, and with trees or shrubs that were native or long adapted to this country.’

The lawn is central to the plot, surrounded by planting which can create shifting paths for dogs to take around the garden, and a large open-fronted ‘dog house’ with an old sofa for the animals to retreat to.

The garden also features long meadow grass for dogs to lie in, while Radio 2 presenter Jo Wiley suggested an area of water for dogs to wallow in, based on experience with her pets, Don said.

There is a playfulness to the garden, with use of dogwood, round-headed alliums evoking balls dogs love to play with, and terracotta pots have been created with pawprints of Don’s dog Ned who can regularly be seen following him around his garden on Gardeners’ World.

But while the lawn has been created to look like it has been used by dogs and people, the team have stopped short of having holes dug in it or ‘pee rings’.

And Don said: ‘There are plants in the garden that are technically poisonous to dogs.

‘However, there are no plants that I don’t have in my own garden and I’ve always had dogs.

‘My view on this is actually the main plant I worry about is yew and we don’t have that in the garden.

‘In my experience dogs are sensible and owners are sensible.’

Don added: ‘We have a brief to make a beautiful garden for Chelsea. The only dogs that are going to be allowed on here are mine or others specifically invited and on a lead and under control.

‘When it goes to Battersea it will not have any plants Battersea doesn’t want to be there, we will remove any that they feel has any toxicity to their dogs,’ he said.

‘We’re not saying these are plants that are perfectly safe, what are you making a fuss about? What I am saying is in my experience I’ve not had any problems with these plants, and I’ve had dogs for the last 65 years.’

Many everyday activities from cutting with knives in the kitchen to driving a car or crossing the road were more dangerous than these plants were to dogs, he said.

And he added: ‘Just be sensible, don’t get hysterical, but at the same time don’t dismiss it.’

He also said dog owners who are keen gardeners should not expect a perfect lawn because ‘that’s not compatible with dogs’, and encouraged those who did not want their animals to be crashing through the flower beds to create low fences or hedging on borders or corners to stop them.

An RHS spokesperson said the dog garden was ‘primarily designed to bring joy and delight’.

‘However, as RHS Chelsea is also a great place to inspire and educate, with some people perhaps not realising that a number of common garden plants could be harmful to dogs if eaten, the RHS and Monty are encouraging people to be aware, but also to be sensible, about dogs in their gardens at home.

‘The garden raises awareness to keep an eye on pets amongst plants. Don’t let them eat or dig up plants in borders and, as with anything, if you see them eating something in the garden and you see changes in behaviours or are worried or have doubts, call the vets.’

They added: ‘The garden will live on at Battersea, where experts from the charity will carefully select dog-friendly, non-toxic plants to live on where rescue dogs can enjoy them for years to come.’