With the Queen visiting the Chelsea Flower Show today, we thought we’d read some stories in the newspaper archive about previous royal visits to the show.

This amusing story about Queen Mary’s ‘walking the plank’ visit in 1939 appealed to us. But we can’t help thinking that somebody in the royal party really ought to have evoked the spirit of Walter Raleigh, and whipped off his coat to make a clothed bridge for Queen Mary.

In addition to all the stories about the exhibits, the newspaper archive reports on the Chelsea Flower Show also reveal much about the changing fashions and etiquette through the decades. In particular, we love the story (from 1914) entitled, ‘Is the Top Hat Doomed?’, which laments the disappearance of the top hat from English life – ‘sic transit gloria mundi’.

Why not do a search for the ‘Chelsea Flower Show’ and see what stories you can find?

Derby Daily Telegraph – Tuesday 16 May 1939
Image © Northcliffe Media Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.
http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000521/19390516/007/0001