The green-fingered monarch, 77, spoke of his love of gardening, despite the occasional mishap. He said he cuts bits of his digits off ‘occasionally’
16:18, 23 Dec 2025Updated 19:10, 23 Dec 2025
He’s spoken out about his love of gardening(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
King Charles has joked he has chopped off his famous fingers while tending to the bushes in his garden.
The Monarch made the admission of his gardening mishaps while on a tour of his Scottish gardens. The green-fingered leader of the Royal Family shared that when he uses the secateurs, his favourite gardening tool, it can lead to a series of injuries.
The 77-year-old spoke about his love for cultivation during a programme for Radio 4 which is set to be repeated on Christmas Day. Speaking to presenter Martha Kearney during a festive special of This Natural Life, the monarch laughed that he spends his “life going around with my secateurs”.
The King plants a tree during a visit to Rome in April(Image: PA)
He laughed: “I do cut bits of my fingers off occasionally.”
Ms Kearney laughed along, warning His Majesty of the dangers using the sharp tool as they journeyed around the 2,000-acre estate.
He also revealed he got the green fingered touch from family members past, saying he grew to love the hobby after watching his grandmother, the Queen Mother, and great-great-grandmother, Queen Alexandra, as passionate gardeners too. The monarch told a tale how he used to be wheeled around in his pram and showed where former queens had planted yew trees on royal grounds.
King Charles said: “That really fascinated me as a very small child, and I’ve had this passion for topiary ever since”, adding: “I think I was just one of those people who generally responded to being outside and looking and observing.”
He also revealed he believes it is “so important” to get youngsters involved in outdoor activities, saying: “We are what we eat in so many ways. Even allotments are only now beginning to come back in fashion after being abandoned.
“I remember there used to be many more school farms, and nearly all of them have been shut down or sold off, which is a tragedy, because in fact, there were marvellous ways for people to learn biology or economics or goodness knows what else, because of actually looking after animals.”
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