There are traditions and there are traditions that have run since 1881, and the Sandringham Flower Show is one, and King Charles has replaced it with a different flower show next week, which is the kind of decision that takes a specific confidence in one’s own gardening credentials to execute.
The Royal Horticultural Society will stage its inaugural flower show at a royal residence next week, per GB News’s confirmed reporting today, at Sandringham in Norfolk from July 22 to 26, in a five-day event that replaces the traditional Sandringham Flower Show for 2026. The original show, established in 1881 and organized by a volunteer committee trust that has run it for 145 years, will resume in 2027 and 2028, per GB News, which is the charitable description of a situation where the King took the site for a year and gave it to the RHS instead. King Charles and Queen Camilla will make their entrance by carriage on the opening day, which is the mode of arrival appropriate for a flower show at a royal residence and also the mode of arrival that makes a flower show feel like an occasion rather than an exhibition.
The RHS Sandringham Flower Show is described as making history by being the first RHS show held at a royal residence, per GB News, which is accurate and which is also a description of a thing that required Charles to agree to it, which he did, because Charles has an active interest in gardens that predates his kingship, his environmental advocacy, his cancer diagnosis, and his bucket hat line by several decades. He has been gardening at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire since 1980. He established the Highgrove gardens as one of the more celebrated private gardens in England. He once told a documentary crew he talked to his plants and received the coverage that statement deserves.
The volunteer committee trust that has organized the traditional Sandringham Flower Show since 1881 will return in 2027, per GB News. They have organized it without a gap for 145 years, including through two world wars, and will now resume in 2027 having spent 2026 watching the RHS do it instead, in the same grounds, for the same week, with the King arriving by carriage.
The RHS show runs July 22 to 26. Charles arrives by carriage on July 22. The original show returns in 2027. The volunteer committee trust’s feelings are not recorded.
When the King replaces a 145-year tradition with a different version of itself and arrives by carriage to open it, what exactly is being modernized?
Sources
GB News: King Charles strikes agreement to replace traditional Sandringham Flower Show
