Prince Charles heartbreak as he voices 'frustration' at disruption created by pandemic
PRINCE CHARLES has expressed the current "frustration" of garden owners like himself who take part in the National Garden Scheme.
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Prince Charles voiced the "frustration" garden owners who open the gates of their splendid green areas to the public for a good cause may be experiencing in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Today, the Prince of Wales backed an initiative launched by the National Garden Scheme, which has created virtual visits to make up for the closure of its 3,700 private gardens due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
However, he acknowledged many garden owners like himself may have been badly hit by the news they could not take part in the scheme.
He said: “When the scheme started in the 1920s, all gardens charged the same admission of one shilling.
“Today they charge a bit more and the total raised is quite phenomenal – some £4million in 2019 alone.
“But now, for the first time in over 90 years, gardens are unable to open, and subsequently no funds are being raised for charity.
“I must say that I can empathise with garden owners’ frustration about this because, like them, for the first time in 26 years, I too have been unable to open Highgrove Garden to visitors.
“Of course, this is at a time when the nursing charities the National Garden Scheme supports are working heroically on the front line of the coronavirus pandemic, and need the financial support more than ever.”
The National Garden Scheme was created in 1927 to raise money for community nurses through the opening of private gardens across England and Wales.
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Gardeners linked to this scheme usually open their gates to the public in the summer.
However, the coronavirus pandemic has forced the scheme and the garden owners to keep these green spaces closed for the first time in 93 years.
The nursing charities benefitting of the scheme this year would have included Marie Curie and Macmillan.
Prince Charles became patron of this scheme in 2002, inheriting this role from his beloved grandmother the Queen Mother.
The Prince of Wales also spoke the important role played by gardens and green areas in people's lives and their health.
He said in a video shared by Clarence House: “This link between gardens and our health has never been more relevant – especially as we endure the challenges of the confined circumstances in which we currently find ourselves, in many cases beset with anxiety and, I am afraid to say, often with personal tragedy.
"During these times the beneficial effects of gardens and green spaces have never been more apparent.
“The reassuring solace, peace and inspiration of a garden, whether it is your own or someone else’s, can now be found to a certain extent through digital means, thanks to this terrific scheme.”
Speaking about the gardeners and owners filming their green areas in order to allow wanna-be visitors to take a peek into their gardens, Prince Charles added: “Of course, this is tapping into the theme that we all know to be so important; that gardens are good for everyone’s health and wellbeing.”