Following the death of Her Majesty the Queen on 8 September 2022, the next edition of the Landscape Institute journal will celebrate her lifelong service to landscape and nature
After the sad news from Buckingham Palace on 8 September of the death of Her Majesty the Queen, the Landscape Institute (LI) added our voice to those across the world paying tribute to her extraordinary life.
Her Majesty’s 70 years of service to the nation included a profound connection to landscape and the countryside. The LI will mark this with a feature in the next edition of the Landscape journal, which focuses on women in landscape architecture.
Guest-edited by LI Immediate Past President Jane Findlay, the already special edition draws inspiration from the achievements of LI co-founder and past president Brenda Colvin. Now it will offer a further opportunity to celebrate Her Majesty’s famous love of nature and her patronage of many wonderful gardens and landscapes during her 70-year reign.
RHS ‘Back to Nature’ Garden
In 2019, Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge – now Princess of Wales – co-designed her first garden for the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, with the support of Andrée Davies and Adam White PPLI.
Inspired by childhood memories of the natural world, the RHS Back to Nature Garden provided a woodland setting for families and communities to connect with nature and enjoy the health and wellbeing benefits of growing plants.
A lover of gardens and the flower show itself, the Queen visited Chelsea more than 50 times during her 70-year reign.
The Chelsea Flower Show – formerly the Great Spring Show – holds special significance for the LI. Founded at the Great Spring Show in 1929 as the Institute of Landscape Architects (ILA), the LI returned to Chelsea in 2019 to mark its 90th anniversary.
Adam himself, then President of the LI and a multiple RHS medal winner, called flower shows ‘a catwalk for our profession’. Indeed, 2019 saw a wealth of wonderful exhibits by LI members. This longstanding show has been a shared love of the Royal Family and our Institute for many years.
The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
Built for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park celebrated its 10th anniversary this year – just a month before the death of its namesake, her Majesty the Queen. The summer edition of the Landscape journal, Planning for Beauty, commemorated the Park’s anniversary by reflecting on its design, creation, and ongoing management.
Originally called simply the Olympic Park, it took its new name after the Games to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 – a fitting tribute, not least after her Majesty’s memorable participation in the Olympic Opening Ceremony.
The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park is one of the most successful Olympic venues parks created, leaving a legacy not just for culture and sport, but for landscape and ecology too. Since opening to the public in 2014, it’s become a beautiful, biodiverse part of London’s natural heritage that still attracts over 6 million visitors per year.
MOD Abbey Wood, Bristol
It’s over 26 years since Jane Findlay’s practice Fira completed the Ministry of Defence (MoD) offices at Abbey Wood in Bristol.
The Queen and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh opened the state-of-the-art office campus on 19 July 1996.
When the Queen opened MoD Abbey Wood @talklandscape https://t.co/WgnYBYEHZy
— Jane Findlay 🇺🇦 (@JaneEFindlay) September 12, 2022
‘What we didn’t realise at the time,’ Jane reflected, ‘was how important the development was in terms of sustainable design – with green infrastructure and nature-based solutions at the heart of the masterplan.’ One of the UK government’s first sustainable schemes, the multi award-winning project remains both one of the region’s biggest employers and a sanctuary for wildlife.
The design team received not only a full briefing on Royal etiquette for the opening ceremony, but also an invitation to lunch with the Queen and Prince Philip.
‘I remember thinking how grateful I was that my mum had insisted on good table manners,’ said Jane. ‘Funny what runs through your head on such important occasions!’
A legacy in landscape
Many more projects, past and present, serve as a testament to the Queen and the Royal Family’s longstanding connection with landscape and nature: among them the Jubilee Gardens, reopened in 2012; the National Memorial Arboretum, of which her Majesty was a patron; and the controversial 1984 International Garden Festival in Liverpool, on which then-LI President Brian Clouston PPLI worked.
The upcoming journal will pay tribute to her Majesty’s love of gardens and nature and celebrate our Institute’s connection with this royal legacy.
