Queen and Duke join rock ’n’ roll royalty for an early peek at Chelsea Flower Show

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were among the first people to get a glimpse of the exhibits at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show.

Both were given a private tour of the world’s most famous flower show, which has been held in the grounds of the Royal Chelsea Hospital since 1913, prior to the public opening today.

Ahead of the visit by the Royals, members of rock and roll royalty made a visit.

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Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr formally opened the event’s WaterAid garden while The Who frontman Roger Daltrey was at the Homebase Teenage Cancer Trust Garden as a patron of the charity. Daltrey admitted he was not much of a gardener himself.

He said: “My wife’s a gardener, I don’t do the garden. My garden’s nothing like this. I like it wild.”

Asked about his favourite flower, he said: “I’m a rose man, I still like a rose.”

He didn’t say whether his die before they get old.

Starr demonstrated the clean water pumps that WaterAid provides for poor communities in developing countries as he opened its Herbert Smith garden in the show’s artisan section.

Other famous faces to visit the show today included Sir Michael Caine and Sir Cliff Richard, who posed for photos at the Barbados Horticulture Society’s floral display.