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H

er Majesty the Queen was clearly

tickled pink to indulge in her passion

for gardening during a royal visit to

Cambridge last week. Flexing her green

fingers (clad in white gloves, of course!) as she

visited the National Institute of Agricultural Botany,

she surprised officials by offering to plant a

hornbeam sapling.

The initial idea was for the Queen to supervise

the ceremonial planting, which marks the

institute’s centenary. But the 93-year-old monarch

remarked: ‘No, no, I can still plant a tree,’ before

giving someone her famous Launer handbag to

hold, adding: ‘Because I can’t do both!’

She then seized the spade and proceeded to

shovel three loads of soil over the tree’s roots,

joking: ‘Somebody’s going to have to plant it

properly now.’

Above: During her trip to Cambridge,

the Queen also enjoyed an exhibition

celebrating 100 years of crop research (right)