FAMOUS FACES, FASHION AND FLOWERS BRING DELIGHT AS LONDON'S SOCIAL SEASON KICKS OFF IN COLOURFUL STYLE

As sunny weather finally arrived, stars joined royalty in looking blooming marvellous as they toured the Chelsea Flower Show last week. Famous names from the worlds of TV, music and radio all dressed in their summer best as they mingled among the fragrant plants and flowers

-  LAURA BENJAMIN

Leading the arrivals at the official preview of the annual garden display were royal twins Lady Eliza and Lady Amelia Spencer. Newlywed Amelia wore a floaty dress from Zimmermann, while Lady Eliza went for a pink polka-dot outfit by Alessandra Rich.

At the Natural Affinity Garden for Aspens, designed to highlight the therapeutic value of nature by helping visitors engage with their senses, musician and DJ Cerys Matthews was reading from her children’s version of Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood.

WINNING DESIGN

Meanwhile, Dame Joanna Lumley, looking stylish in a patterned top and tan fedora, posed inside Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg’s Horatio’s Garden – an accessible haven that can be viewed from a bed or a wheelchair and which went on to win Best in Show.

“Every time I come to Chelsea my eyes open, open, open,” an enthusiastic Dame Joanna told the BBC.