ROSES. ROCKS. ROYAL GARDENS.

For the launch of their new high jewellery collections, Van Cleef & Arpels brings their signature sparkle to the Scottish Highlands

- GEORGIE MCCOURT

IF YOU TOLD ME I'D BE QUIZZING King Charles' head gardener one day on rose and hydrangea hacks in a pair of Wellies, I might've laughed. But that’s exactly where I found myself in July: in Scotland, at Dumfries House, the setting for Van Cleef & Arpels’ new high jewellery launch. And yes, I took notes (always ensure you deadhead roses immediately after the first bloom).

The trip marked the global debut of Flowerlace and Fleurs d'Hawaï: two new collections from the Parisian maison that take their cues, as always, from nature. Van Cleef & Arpels doesn't just like flowers, it obsesses over them. And in this case the brand brought us to the source: a 2000-acre estate in Ayrshire, in south-west Scotland, backed by The King’s Foundation, complete with a sprawling rose garden and royal eco-credentials.

Why Scotland? Because Van Cleef & Arpels is now the Principal Patron of The King’s Foundation Gardens and Estates. That includes not just Dumfries House, but also Highgrove and the Castle of Mey. The brand is funding everything from re-wilding projects to electric garden tools. It's luxury with a side of legacy.

“We could have launched these collections anywhere,” Catherine Rénier, Van Cleef & Arpels’ CEO, told me. “But this garden - this very specific rose garden - meant something to us. It’s a way to bring the jewellery garden we've created into a real, living one.”