Prince Philip stormed out of a garden at the Chelsea Flower Show yesterday (20.05.08).
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The prince walked out of Australian television gardener Jamie Durie’s garden at the annual London event after the designer corrected his horticultural knowledge.
As he stalked off, onlookers heard him mutter: “I didn’t come here to get a lesson.”
The prince’s walkout came after he spotted what he thought was a tree fern, and commented that he liked it to Durie. The plant was not actually a fern, but when Durie explained this Prince Philip was not impressed and walked away.
Durie said: “I was quite shocked – I didn’t mean to offend him. I was trying to be as courteous as I could and give him the right information. He just walked away. Maybe he was a bit tired.”
The gardeners took the incident in good spirits however, and have come up with a new term for being snubbed: “Philiped.”
The garden was also visited by Queen Elizabeth, which Durie says was an amazing experience.
He said: “I can’t believe gardening has enabled us to meet the Queen. She was really pleasant. I think she was quite taken with the garden. I couldn’t believe how generous she was with her time and how positive she was. It was an honour.”
Durie’s garden was awarded a gold medal at the annual event.
