The King has appeared on the cover of Country Life magazine to celebrate the restoration of his Sandringham gardens.
A relaxed-looking Charles was pictured in the sunshine, leaning on a shepherd’s crook, dressed down without a jacket and in a pale open-necked shirt, beige trousers and brown suede shoes.
The portrait was taken in a formal part of the gardens on the King’s Norfolk estate by photographer Millie Pilkington.
Country Life editor-in-chief Mark Hedges described the King’s restoration of the gardens since he became monarch as “remarkable”.
“Over the past three years, His Majesty The King has overseen a remarkable restoration of the gardens at Sandringham — reviving historic landscapes, reimagining formal parterres and creating new spaces of reflection and natural beauty for visitors to enjoy,” he said.
The magazine described Sandringham’s 60 acres of “pleasure gardens”, surrounded by woods and parkland, as a “showcase of the finest designs” with the King rebuilding the formal areas with a sundial garden, a topiary garden inspired by Charles’s boyhood memories of Queen Alexandra’s ornamental garden at Sandringham’s Dairy Cottage, and a maze.
The King is a fan of mazes, once telling broadcaster and Country Life columnist Alan Titchmarsh that “there’s nothing more enjoyable than getting lost in a maze”.
He has also introduced a 400 yard-long (366m) magnolia walk planted with hundreds of different varieties including many of his personal favourites.
“The scale, the speed and the importance of what he has already achieved cannot be overemphasised,” the magazine said.
The gardens at Sandringham are usually open to the public from April to October.
The King’s brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is set to move to a home on the wider, private Sandringham estate some time in the new year, after being banished from the monarchy.
– The full feature on the restoration of Sandringham appears in this week’s edition of Country Life magazine, on sale now.
