HRH Princess Eugenie of York casts thumbprint for RHS Chelsea Flower Show
HRH Princess of Eugenie of York, Patron of Horatio's Garden since 2019, has cast her thumbprint to be featured in the charity's show garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May 2023.
Her Royal Highness' thumbprint was formed in clay during a visit to Horatio's Garden London & South East at the London Spinal Cord Injury Centre in Stanmore. HRH also toured the garden where she met with beneficiaries, staff and volunteers, visited a creative painting workshop and viewed the grapevine she planted when officially opening the garden in May 2022.
Her thumbprint will be displayed as a piece of artwork in a woodland room within the charity's garden designed by Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg from Harris Bugg Studio in collaboration with architects Mcmullan Studio on the prestigious Main Avenue of Chelsea Flower Show.
It will join a thousand other thumbprint stamps which will now be collected across the UK with the help of ceramicist Vinicius Les. This will involve the broad community of Horatio's Garden including patients, staff and volunteers within its garden in spinal injury centres - as well as those involved in bringing the show garden to life.
HRH Princess Eugenie, Patron of Horatio's Garden said: "I am so pleased to be supporting the Horatio's Garden show garden at Chelsea this year. As a former spinal patient myself I understand the impact that Horatio's Garden has on people in hospital and the difference it makes to their lives."
Dr Olivia Chapple, Founder and Chair of Trustees of the charity said: "We are thrilled that HRH Princess Eugenie has cast her thumbprint as we start to gather prints from the broad community of Horatio's Garden for our Chelsea show garden in May. This is a wonderful initiative by designers Harris Bugg Studio in collaboration with architect Andrew Mcmullan that will tell the powerful story of the many hands involved in caring for beneficiaries of Horatio's Garden."
Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg, designers of Horatio's Garden at Chelsea Flower Show, said: "We have been so fortunate in the last year to meet with many people supported by the Horatio's Garden charity - we have listened to their stories and come to understand the vital role the charity plays within their lives. In approaching the design for the garden we were determined to visually represent the collective power of the whole Horatio's Garden family - the many inspiring individuals that make up this transformative community of hope and support. And since this garden will be permanently located in Sheffield, the home of highly skilled metalworking, the idea of a personal way of hallmarking this space resonated yet further."
Her Royal Highness Princess Eugenie last visited Horatio's Garden London & South East to officially celebrate its opening in May 2022.
Horatio's Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May 2023 will be a place of sanctuary and hope, reflecting the special qualities of the charity's gardens that nurture the wellbeing of people after spinal injury. Designed by Charlotte Harris and Hugo Bugg of Harris Bugg Studio, it will be an immersive, restorative haven - the antithesis of a busy, clinical hospital environment - that puts the requirements of people with mobility needs at its heart. The garden is generously funded by Project Giving Back.
For more information about Horatio's Garden please visit the website