Queen insists she is 'still perfectly capable' of planting a tree at 93

Robert Jobson9 July 2019

The Queen was not letting the small matter of her advancing age stand in the way of that most quintessential royal job: tree planting.

Rejecting an offer of help on Tuesday to plant a hornbeam sapling, the 93-year-old declared: “No, no, I’m still perfectly capable of planting a tree.”

With that she seized the spade and started energetically shovelling in the soil to commemorate 100 years of the National Institute of Agricultural Botany just outside Cambridge.

The NIAB chairman Jim Godfrey had been primed to plant the tree for her, and for Her Majesty to “supervise”.

The Queen plants a tree
Getty Images

But as she strode over to the sapling, already half-planted on the lawn, she showed she meant business by giving her black Launer handbag to a lady-in-waiting.

Once said tree was officially planted, she even leant on the spade like an allotment pro before her equerry Major Nana Kofi Twumasi-Ankrah discreetly spirited away the implement.

However the Queen did reveal she’s made some concession to age. In conversation with Tina Barsby, chief executive of NIAB, she revealed she doesn’t drink wine - or at least, her own wine.

Tina said: “We talked about English wine. It’s a new crop for us.

“NIAB is involved in almost every crop and one of our people mentioned we had an experiential vineyard in Kent and she said she had some vines in Windsor.

“I told her that the official wine for the Oxford and Cambridge boat race was English sparkling rather than French champagne, and that English wine was becoming more popular and much better.

“And she said I don’t actually drink wine myself but I hear it’s very good.”

The Queen during a visit to the National Institute of Agricultural Botany
Getty Images

The Queen was also interested in seeing the agricultural research facility’s wheat crops.

They have been growing genetically modified wheat to beat drought in water-stricken areas and the monarch was particularly interested in why the new wheat was shorter than the original, much taller crops.

Tina said: “She was very interested in crops and if you own large estates then you’re going to be interested in what grows on the farms.

“Some of it will be managed woodland but most of it will be farmland.

“It was just fantastic she could come again as she’s been twice before.

“She saw our plant breeding and wheat crops.

“She asked lots of questions and wanted to get deeper into what we do.

“She asked about wheat varieties and why they used to be so tall and now they’re short.”

The Queen was also shown a picture of Queen Mary planting a mulberry tree at NIAB’s original site in Cambridge when she opened it with King George V on 14 October 1921.

The mulberry tree died and so a bowl was made from its wood by Kathleen Weaver, granddaughter of the institute’s founder Lawrence Weaver, and presented to HM.

On the tree planting Tina said: “It was very impressive to see her planting the tree.

“She wasn’t scheduled to plant the tree, it was just to supervise the planting. But she handed her handbag to her someone and seized the spade.

“She obviously wanted to do it!”

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