MONARCHS OF COMPOST AND BEES' THE KING AND QUEEN GET CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW OFF TO A BLOOMING LOVELY START IN THE SUN

Are you trying to grow vegetables? There's nothing more fun than eating something you have grown! The King

- EMILY NASH & SALLY MORGAN

The King and Queen led the royal family and a host of famous faces as the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Chelsea Flower Show opened in glorious sunshine.

Making their first visit since the announcement that His Majesty was the new patron of the society, the royal couple found themselves presented with new titles: King of the Compost and Queen of the Bees.

The names were written on badges given to them by schoolchildren in the RHS No Adults Allowed Garden, which was devised by designer Harry Holding and the pupils of Sullivan Primary School in London. Delighted, the King laughed and said: “Quite right!”

Admiring the garden, which features a slide between pools of water, created by Jeremy Wyatt of design studio Root and Shoot, he asked: “Can you drop from there into the water? Are you allowed to try it?” He also asked the youngsters: “Are you trying to grow vegetables? There’s nothing more fun than eating something you have grown. You should try it. It makes such a difference. It tastes so different.”

As adults, the royal couple were asked to pay a forfeit to enter the garden: plant a tree, donate to the RHS Campaign for School Gardening or find a flower that started with the first letter of their name.

The Queen handed over a posy of camellias from the gardens at Buckingham Palace to secure their entrance.

Their Majesties arrived at the show site with the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.