《皇家花园的秘密 Secrets of the Royal Gardens 2022, Season 4 》第一季04集

The Royal Gardens. Some of the most beautiful spaces in the world. But many are strictly off limits and their secrets well hidden. The Royal Gardens provide habitat for fantastic species. It houses absolute gems. Now, in this series, we go behind castle gates and beyond palace walls to reveal the surprising history that has unfolded inside these Royal Gardens. Buckingham Palace had its own menagerie. Exotic animals were all the rage. And explore the secrets behind their iconic designs. The maze was inspired by Prince Charles's childhood at Sandringham. We meet the passionate people who look after these horticultural havens. It's great being a gardener at a place like this. It's steeped in history. And discover how the royal family have used them in the past and today. For the Queen, the gardens at Buckingham Palace have been a lifesaver because she is fundamentally a country woman. This time, royal castles. Imposing buildings designed to protect kings and queens from their enemies. But today, they're more than just battlements and turrets. They're part of vast estates full of beautiful gardens and incredible wildlife. Each designed to be self-sufficient with hundreds of staff working and living on royal grounds. The royal family's two most famous castles are found at different ends of Britain. Windsor Castle to the west of London. And hidden in the highlands, Balmoral Castle. Whilst they're both classified as castles, they serve very different roles for the royal family. Windsor Castle, centuries old, is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world. It's used a lot for formal occasions, for entertaining, for weddings, for entertaining foreign heads of state. The Queen's got her own rooms there and I do believe that that is where she feels at home. Balmoral was built in the Victorian era and is very much a private residence. It's a holiday home in Scotland that the family go to and they, you know, they love it dearly. Although used for different purposes, they have something in common. Vast areas of open green space. Inside the walls of Windsor Castle are formal gardens. And leading from the castle, the Long Walk. This three-mile tree-lined avenue was created by Charles II in 1685 to give a dramatic impression to those arriving at the castle. Today, it's the perfect backdrop to greet arriving members of the royal family. This avenue ends at the spectacular George III statue and marks the beginning of the 4,800 acre Great Park. Windsor Great Park, it's a marvellous space. It's woodland, it's beautiful, it's parkland, there's a bit of everything there. And the Queen, she's ridden horses through it and she walks there, walked her dogs there. Within Windsor Great Park are areas of beauty such as Virginia Water, with its large lake and waterfall. And found within the large Royal Frogmore Estate is a stunning private garden. These grounds have been in royal ownership since the 11th century and have undergone many transformations. One of the most interesting gardens is found on the edge of the castle grounds, the East Terrace. The origins of this royal garden go back to 1826. George IV wanted to create more privacy around Windsor. He'd had new rooms added onto Windsor and so he wanted more privacy for the royal family when they were in residence there. The King had a public footpath shut and asked architect Sir Geoffrey Wyattville to transform bowling greens visible to the public into an enclosed formal garden. Then a few decades later, it changed again. Victoria and Albert had their input into the garden. They found the old design rather scruffy and scraggy and had a lot of the shrubbery removed to create ornamental gardens. This clean formal design remained for a century. That was until 1971 when Prince Philip decided to turn his hand to garden design and completely transformed it. What he's done there is actually create a formal rose garden. The middle feature is still there but it's now been turned into a water feature and Prince Philip actually designed a lotus-shaped water feature and then radiating out from that water feature are now rose beds that are shaped like rays of the sun. It's not only got formality but it's actually got monoculture because all you see is lots of rose beds. When you just grow one particular species of plants, if that then gets affected by diseases or pests, then you have a serious problem. Some believe Prince Philip's bold and simpler design is missing something. My personal viewpoint is that actually the older design does work better than the newer design simply because it had a lot more structure so when you're looking out from the castle, you've actually got a lot more to look at through the winter months as well. Although not everyone agrees with Prince Philip's design, it has remained like this for over 50 years and Prince Philip's impact extends beyond the castle walls into Windsor's Great Park. The park has been connected to royalty since William the Conqueror in the 11th century. Each successive monarch has altered this vast space. In the 17th century, Charles II transformed it into the park we know today. The picturesque style landscape at Virginia Water was created in the 18th century by George II's son, the Duke of Cumberland. In the 20th century, its upkeep fell to Prince Philip, who was struggling to find his place in the royal family. Prince Philip gave up his naval career when Elizabeth became queen. For some time, he struggled. He was this real alpha male, was playing second fiddle to his wife and had no real role other than to be a consort and to walk two paces behind her. I think this is very frustrating for a man of his intellect and talent and drive. After a few years of marriage, Prince Philip was keen to carve out his own role within the royal family. He was a real moderniser and he wanted to shake a lot of things up. He felt things didn't work as efficiently as they could. He felt there was too much grandeur around the business of monarchy and I think he felt the same about these vast great swathes of land. Prince Philip shaped the grounds at many royal properties, but the one he focused on the most was the oldest, the grounds around Windsor Castle. Windsor was hugely important to Philip. Philip felt, particularly as the royal family aren't in residence at Windsor all year round and they have more than enough space privately when they are, he felt very strongly about the public having much more access. In 1952, the Queen appointed him Ranger of Windsor Great Park. Prince Philip could now shape the park in his vision. He did a lot of quite interesting things at Windsor. He opened a lot more of it to the public. He introduced a herd of red deer from Bower Morrell. In 1979, 42 deer arrived. Now, there are over 500 found in the Great Park. Prince Philip was also responsible for another major addition to the park. Philip brought polo to Windsor. He formed the Windsor Park Polo Club. He played there until he was about 55, I think, and Charles learnt to play and he took up polo when he was about 14. At the time of his death in 2021, Prince Philip had been the Ranger of Windsor Great Park for 69 years, more than anyone else in history. And the Great Park's transformation is one of his greatest legacies. Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands. Its vast grounds cover 50,000 acres, twice the size of the city of Manchester in the UK. Near the castle are three acres of formal gardens, including a sunken garden and Victorian-style hothouses and conservatories that produce flowers all year round. Further away from the castle, the vast open spaces cover valleys, glens, rivers, and even Balmoral's own loch. This has been where the royals get away from it all and have done for over 170 years, when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert first visited the area. Victoria and Albert bought Balmoral because they thought that the countryside of Scotland really reminded Albert of his beloved Germany, Coburg, so they were really trying to reproduce Germany in Britain. Prince Albert planted extensive woodland around Balmoral, including Caledonian pines, sycamore and oak, reflecting the trees found in the Bavarian forests he grew up walking in. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert enjoyed the Germanic style of the Highlands, and they also embraced the local culture. Victorian Albert really loved Balmoral and they went to town on the Scottishness. The whole of Balmoral Castle was decorated in really sort of thistles and tartan. Even the climate was a plus for Queen Victoria. Victoria loved going out in the wet and the cold, she loved having outdoor picnics. There were some ladies-in-waiting who complained that they were freezing the whole time in Balmoral. The royals' love for the outdoors has continued with Queen Elizabeth II. She loves Balmoral, she loves the outdoors, she goes out every day, and really it's pretty difficult if you're a member of the royal family and you don't love Balmoral because that is very much part of your routine. Every summer you go to Balmoral, you go out, you have outdoor picnics, you go hunting, and if it's raining, much the better. The Queen enjoys a two-month-long stay here that traditionally begins in August. Once she and her family disappear behind the castle gates, they are rarely seen. Out on the open hills or in the acres of forests, it's the perfect location for the Queen to relax. The forests and gardens of Balmoral are unique among all other royal properties. Hidden down quiet paths and on the grand open spaces are statues and structures that have a deep connection with members of the royal family. Balmoral's gardens are dotted with statues and monuments, many from Queen Victoria's time. There are quite a lot of cairns, which are piles of rocks to celebrate births and deaths. Cairns are an ancient tradition of memorialising that can be traced back to prehistoric times. There are 12 royal cairns found across the Balmoral estate. These vary from this one, celebrating the purchase of the castle in 1852, to one of the most spectacular sights in Balmoral. The biggest and most significant is the 12th cairn, the Prince Albert Cairn. Actually, it's not really a cairn, it's a pyramid. It's 35 foot high, it can be seen from the surrounding valley. It's huge. Engraved on the pyramid are the words to the beloved memory of Albert, great and good Prince Consort, erected by his broken-hearted widow, Victoria R. This large cairn dominates the Balmoral grounds, as it did when it was first built in 1862. Nearer the castle are various statues dedicated to royals who have lived at Balmoral. But there is one statue here that once caused a scandal. There is another statue in a small path away from the castle, and that's of John Brown, the Scots ghillie, the servant, that Victoria became incredibly fond of after Albert's death. John Brown worked as a ghillie, or gamekeeper, at Balmoral. He had a reputation for being rude and outspoken. But spending time together with the widowed Queen Victoria, the two grew close. Victoria and John Brown were always together. The royal family, her children, hated him. And there became this sort of scandal about it. People called her Mrs. Brown. They suggested he was influencing her. Queen Victoria had a widow's cottage, and there were rumours that she spent time here alone with John Brown. When John Brown died, Victoria was heartbroken. She commissioned this marvellous statue of him and kept him near her. This statue is unusual, as it is not of a member of the royal family. Although the royals have many servants, many confidants, many courtiers, they're very rarely preserved in statue form. Victoria's relationship with John Brown was a constant source of embarrassment to the other members of her royal family. And when Queen Victoria died, John Brown's statue didn't stay in place for too long. As soon as she died, her son, Edward VII, he got rid of all her mementos of Brown, threw them all away, and took the statue and moved it way out of the way of Balmoral. Royal gardens have had many different functions throughout history. In the 13th century, one garden at Windsor played a vital role for the royal family, the herb garden. This scented garden was a peaceful retreat, but it also had another purpose. For centuries, herbs have been used as medicine to treat kings and queens. It's all about the healing powers of plants. It's really like having your own chemist or your own medicine chest in your garden. Up to a thousand plants were grown, all of them with healing properties to cure everything from headache, to fever, to heart disease, to dropsy. It was magical. At the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew is a herb garden which reflects the plants that would have been found at Windsor. Professor Monique Simmons is Kew's leading expert on the healing abilities of plants. These gardens go really back into early times, 13th, 14th, 15th century. We can see the start of the use of herbal gardens as medicines. You can go back to people like Henry VIII. You would often get a garden that would produce the herbs for tinctures and for infusions, and for treating things like fevers. These Royal Gardens would have been full of herbs that we would recognise today. Lavender was used to fight off infection and it's rumoured that Queen Victoria used it as a deodorant. Other magical botanicals include the King's Clover, reportedly used by Henry VIII who boiled it in sweet wine to reduce inflammation. A common cooking herb from today was a lifesaver. This is rosemary, a long traditional use of using rosemary as an antibacterial activity. It also has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory activity and it was used not only for treating humans but it would have also been used on wounds, on horses and other animals. Another essential plant in the herb garden was mugwort. Its medicinal use can be traced back thousands of years. It also goes by the name of artemisia. This is artemisia, used for treating fevers. It was also used for digestion but it's most noted for its anti-fever activity. So if you were having a cold or something it would have been used to treat you. Today, artemisia has a vital use in modern medicine. Its active ingredient, artemisinin, has been proven to combat a dangerous disease. This is a very interesting example. We have identified the active ingredients and then it was developed into a westernised drug against malaria. Although royal herb gardens have been used to fix up kings and queens throughout the centuries, these plants continue to hold a wealth of secrets today. Just about 28,000 species of plants are recorded to have some form of medicinal activity. Only a small proportion of those have really been fully evaluated. We have got a lot to learn. Windsor Castle, built in the 11th century, has been a sanctuary for the royals during numerous wars and battles. And in the 20th century, it became a fortress once more. In 1940, Hitler began to bomb England. Thousands of children were evacuated, among them Elizabeth and Margaret, now 14 and 10, who were sent up the Thames to a safer haven. Windsor Castle became home to the young princesses as they were separated from their parents, the king and queen. Their parents stayed on in London, at Buckingham Palace, working, but they would come at weekends. During the Blitz, London, including Buckingham Palace, was hit. At Windsor, kept safe behind the castle walls, the young princesses transformed the castle garden into allotments and spoke to the nation in Princess Elizabeth's first ever broadcast speech. My sister is by my side and we are both going to say goodnight to you. Come on, Margaret. Goodnight, Susie. Goodnight and good luck to you all. They had a lovely time during the war when they were at Windsor Castle. They were guides by this time, girl guides. They had the gardens, they had dogs for company and a whole troop of guardsmen as well to sort of entertain them. Elizabeth and Margaret learned new skills while at Windsor and spent time outdoors. Girl guides camp and they would go and camp in the gardens. They clearly had very good fun until it was all stopped when doodlebugs started being aimed at the castle. Although bombs fell around Windsor, the castle and its grounds were never hit. Castle gardens aren't just shaped by major historical events, they're also created to serve the practical demands of royal life. Throughout history, one garden was essential for every royal household, the kitchen garden. To supply Windsor throughout the year, a number of kitchen gardens were needed. One that supplied the castle is still found here at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. This royal kitchen garden can be traced back to the 18th century. It was founded in roughly 1760 by Princess Augusta. It was a big ward kitchen garden at the time and it supplied most of the royal parties along with a few of the kitchen gardens in the London area. Kitchen gardens became more important in the 18th century because inside the royal homes there was a move away from a meat-based diet. At this point, we're starting to get into European cuisine. So there's a lot more in the way of vegetables whereas previous to this, vegetables would have been what peasants ate. So the vegetables were becoming more important. As demand for more vegetables grew, royal gardeners produced a wider variety of crops. We know that we had several wineries on site and we also know that we had an orchard. So we know we were producing lots of fruit but we also knew we had mushroom houses. They wanted to produce as much as possible on site. Peas, beans, turnips, cabbages. You would have recognised mainly what was in a Georgian kitchen garden. Although the royal diet was becoming more varied, there were still some vegetables that many chefs were wary of. They were probably only just starting to eat things like chillies and peppers because they're in the Solanaceae family and that's directly related to the deadly nightshade which was renowned for being poisonous. Belladonna, or deadly nightshade, is one of the most poisonous plants in Britain and anything that looked similar would have been avoided. Belladonna did, however, have one very particular use. At one point in history, people used to take the belladonna fruits and drop it into their eyes which made them dilate which was meant to be very appealing which hence belladonna, beautiful woman. I don't recommend it and I definitely don't recommend putting peppers in your eyes. Successful royal kitchen gardens had to be able to produce vegetables for the royal family no matter what the weather. This royal garden used brick walls to create its own climate. They give you so much heat. The bricks bounce back the warmth and even now I get one to two degrees higher than places around me which really helps the growing season. It helps reduce frost. As the royal family's appetite for vegetables grew so did the demand. By the early 19th century a number of kitchen gardens supplied Windsor Castle. At one point there were about five or six different gardens all providing food and it wasn't as easy to communicate back then. You couldn't just text someone and go oh I'm sending six cabbages don't send any cabbages today. So they'd end up with lots of one thing and none of the other and it just wasn't efficient and so it was decided it would be more efficient to make one large garden elsewhere. A large area known as Frogmore half a mile south of the castle was chosen to be the sole supplier of fruit and vegetables for all royal functions spelling the end of the small kitchen garden at Kew. Although the kitchen garden no longer exists the 33 acres of Frogmore Gardens created in the 18th century have been a deeply personal space for the British royal family through the centuries. In the 20th century Frogmore was the perfect location for the young Queen Elizabeth and her family to enjoy time together. This picturesque landscape with its ornamental lake and stone bridges has changed little since it was created. And gets its name from one of its most vocal residents. Frogmore actually gained its name because there were so many frogs there and when you go there at key times all you hear are the frogs. Redwood trees and tulips provide a rich setting for the garden's seasonal variations. A garden which comes to life in the spring showcasing its abundance of colours and scents. Queen Elizabeth II isn't the only monarch to have enjoyed the beauty and tranquility of these gardens. Queen Victoria did say she liked the peace and quiet. She wrote in her diary that when you go there all you can hear are the bees buzzing and the birds singing and the occasional cackling from the poultry yard. Queen Victoria was responsible for turning one area of Frogmore Gardens into something unique. In fact she found it so peaceful that she made it into a mausoleum for her beloved husband Prince Albert. The mausoleum is really magnificent. It's huge. It's got vivid colours. It's Victorian decorative art gone to town. I think within that we see Victoria's sort of devotion to her husband her love for her husband and also her desire to celebrate him with a sort of grandish and almost garish setup possible. Although Prince Albert was the first royal to be buried here he wasn't the last. These consecrated grounds stretch outside the mausoleum. Other royals over the years have been buried at Frogmore including Edward VIII, Wallace Simpson and also Princess Helena, Princess Victoria and George, Duke of Kent. It does tend to be the case that we see more royal dogs and pets being buried in the grounds of their palaces but in this case we've got royal relatives too. A garden closer to the castle serves as another memorial to a recently departed member of the royal family. Ma'am, what I'd like to do is to present you with a rose named the Duke of Edinburgh Rose to Marcus Centennial. In June 2021 on what would have been Prince Philip's 100th birthday the Queen planted a special rose. The rose was named Duke of Edinburgh and this deep pink perennial had been specially named in memory of the Prince. This unique rose had been specially created. The secrets behind how this royal rose came to be made are found inside this Hertfordshire greenhouse. The creator of this rose is Philip Harkness one of the leading rose breeders in the UK. It's incredibly satisfying because you're creating something you're making something which is new you're working with nature not against nature and you're seeing something which is unique. The Duke of Edinburgh Rose was created over years of hard work in these greenhouses. The first step when you're breeding a new rose is to do the cross-pollination or the hybridising. To do that you take a flower and you remove all of the petals which you can do quite gently they come off quite nicely with your fingers. We then remove with a pair of tweezers the stamens and the anthers. After 24 hours we then select the pollen we want and here's a flower and I can hold the petals back the stamens and the anthers are here loads of yellow dust on my finger which is the pollen I can just dab the pollen on here and that pollen will work its way down and it will form a seed pod and we'll get 25 or 30 seeds in there. This process is repeated multiple times to produce hundreds of seed pods. Each seed inside these pods will ultimately grow into a unique rose. Every year Philip will plant up to 50,000 seeds from this cross-breeding programme. We sow those 50,000 seeds and when they germinate and they come into flower nobody has seen that rose before you're the first person not just in the world but in the universe to see it and it's a fantastically exciting feeling. Once they grow a ruthless weeding out process begins. Only the best roses will survive. We are starting to make decisions about you will survive or you won't survive and from 30,000 seeds that germinated we're down to about 1,200-1,500 of them in here so we've had a major cull. There are a number of reasons why these roses won't make the grade. We don't use any form of disease control if it gets disease it's out and some of them the flowers are too small some of them they're not interesting some of them are dull colour. This one he's got really nice dark green leaf and a dark green leaf always works well for white flower but bear in mind in seven years time out of the 1,500 we've got here only five or six will make the market. Just because I fall in love with them so easily and so early doesn't mean that they're keepers. The select few are then grown outside over the next few years to check they can cope with the British weather. Every rose here goes through this rigorous process. The Birth of Duke of Edinburgh one it would have had the same seven eight years in development it's going to grow up to around about a metre high and about a metre wide and it's got a lovely flower it's got a it's a reddish pink and it's got a silver silver white striping in it and it's really really attractive. Nice perfume flowers with medium size and and it's it's just it's just a lovely garden rose. Seeing the Queen planting a rose that took years of work was a highlight for Philip. The Queen is an avid gardener I do look at it as an honour I do look at it as something to be proud of if you're giving pleasure to people then then then you're doing something right in the world. Balmoral, the royal castle hidden in the Scottish Highlands. Balmoral for the Queen it's all about the family being incredibly private she and her family can gather and get get away from the pressures of being in the spotlight and it's very very important to her I mean Balmoral is the place where members of her family say she is her happiest. Throughout her reign the Queen has enjoyed riding horses walking her dogs and exploring the glens either on foot or behind the wheel of an off-road vehicle. It's all about the outdoors Balmoral they're up on the hill when they're there it's very very relaxed and informal and all about the outdoors. During one of these walks the Queen and her protection officer were approached by a group of tourists. There's a story she was once walking with her detective and some woman came up to her and said have you ever met the Queen? And she said no I haven't but I know a man who has, he has. When most of us see the Queen she has this very neutral face that she shows the world. Privately she's got a very wicked sense of humour. The castle is just one of many properties on the Balmoral estate. Near the castle are small cottages some of these are where other royals stay when they visit and six miles away there's Burke Hall the Scottish home of Prince Charles. For Charles Balmoral and particularly Burke Hall I would say that's his favourite place in the country. He is so happy there and the garden I think is very special for Charles there he loves the wildlife. Charles's Burke Hall garden is designed to encourage wildlife to flourish. Among the herbaceous borders are plants like Lady's Mantle the Duchess of Cornwall's favourite flower used to attract bees and other pollinators. Charles is very in tune with nature he's always been fascinated by wildlife he's devoted you know years of his life to wildlife and the protection of wildlife. It's not just horses and dogs it's beetles and birds. There's one visitor to Burke Hall's gardens that Prince Charles has taken a special interest in the red squirrel. Charles has spoken about putting his jacket on a chair and with some nuts in the pockets and the squirrels will find the nuts and he'll look and there'll be a little red tail waggling out of his jacket pocket. With a supply of nuts and water sources the Burke Hall garden has become a sanctuary for the red squirrel. The rest of the 50,000 acre Balmoral estate is home to a huge diversity of animals including the wildcat, the impressive golden eagle along with large populations of grouse. However not every bird is thriving on the estate. There is a special area of forest on the Balmoral estate that was purchased by Queen Victoria in 1878 where they're making a real effort to help a bird that is at risk of extinction. The capercaillie. This bird roughly the same size as a turkey has struggled to survive in the UK. In the mid-18th century they were hunted to extinction for their delicious meat. The taste has a hint of fir tree to it. They were reintroduced in the UK at the same time that the Balmoral estate was being built in the mid-19th century. Capercaillie are our biggest game bird here in the UK. The birds are incredibly impressive. They are blackish grey and they have a stunning red ring around the eye. Looks like a red eyebrow. During the mating season they do this wonderful thing called lecking which is when the males display to the females and they try and attract a mate and this is so important for a population that is diminishing. To help the capercaillie the royal estate is making changes to the Balmoral woodland. They've cleared the heather in certain areas that allows a drying off space for the chicks. They've also taken out some of the higher up shrubbery to allow sunlight down to the forest floor. Just shows that the royals on the Balmoral estate take this really seriously. The conservation of capercaillie is key in Scotland. As well as providing a home for the extensive wildlife, Balmoral's grounds provide opportunities for the royal family to stay fit and healthy. Exploring hills and forests also gives the royal family a chance to get away from their normal formal lives. Balmoral is a place guests arrive, family come. And they have great shooting parties. They ride, they walk, they paint. There's just everything you can think of to do there. During her summer stay the Queen keeps her work commitments to a minimum. But there is one tradition which is a mix of business and pleasure. One of the key visits is the visit from the Prime Minister. Actually 15 Prime Ministers have visited the Queen at Balmoral. From Winston Churchill to Boris Johnson and some like it more than others. Some Prime Ministers such as David Cameron and Harold Wilson enjoyed their time spent as the Queen's house guest. But a schedule of games, strong cocktails and royal rules to follow was too much for others. The Blairs found the constant dress change in the informality very exhausting and Margaret Thatcher found the outdoor life purgatory as she put it. It's said that Margaret Thatcher didn't enjoy the informality and never arrived with suitable footwear, needing to borrow waterproof boots for any outdoor walks. Lunch was outside every day and every day they were off doing expeditions, rain or shine. Lunch was often a barbecue cooked by Prince Philip, helped out by his children such as Princess Anne. There's a lot of barbecues and the Queen will usually do the washing up and actually Margaret Thatcher and the Queen had a bit of a disagreement over who was going to do the washing up after the picnic. The Queen won but then Margaret Thatcher sent us some marigolds as a Christmas present, perhaps to make a point. Royal castle grounds go beyond simple formal gardens. They're grand estates that are working to protect wildlife ecosystems. Whether it's creating safe habitats or giving endangered species easy access to food. Charles has spoken about putting his jacket on a chair and with some nuts in the pockets and a little red tail waggling out of his jacket pocket. Bold thinkers like Prince Philip shaped these parks and gardens, guiding them into the 21st century. Now events like climate change threaten these precious wildlife habitats, meaning the work undertaken inside these castles grounds in the future will be more important than ever.