 The Royal Family at the unveiling of the Queen Mother garden |
The Duke of Rothesay has paid tribute to his "beloved" grandmother as a memorial garden to the late Queen Mother was unveiled in Edinburgh. The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Camilla were all visiting the living memorial at Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Gardens.
The �525,000 site features a Celtic labyrinth and four secret gardens, with plants from around the world.
It also has a stone pavilion housing a bronze portrait of the Queen Mother.
The visit marks the successful completion of a two-year collaboration between The Queen Mother's Memorial Fund for Scotland and the botanic gardens.
Prince Charles said: "I'm enormously touched that so many people at home and abroad have wished to contribute to the memorial."
He described the design of the pavilion as truly inspiring.
He said: "This will be a living and growing tribute to my beloved grandmother."
School involvement
The garden was designed by Lachlan Stewart, an architect working for ANTA Architecture, based in Fearn, near Tain, in Ross-shire.
The pavilion's internal grotto-like walls are adorned with shells collected by school children around the country and the ceiling is decorated with pine cones from the four National Botanic Gardens of Scotland - Edinburgh, Benmore, Dawyck and Logan.
Nearby a curved and stepped grass area provides seating, designed particularly with school groups in mind.
David Bowes-Lyon, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh fund chairman, said: "The memorial garden has been designed with the intention of inspiring individuals and groups of all ages and abilities all year round.
"In particular, we aim to enthuse children by providing insight into the life of a remarkable woman who led by example in the way she gave freely of her time for others.
"It has been an extraordinary project in which to participate."
Mr Stewart said: "Our aim was to create a garden in celebration of this great lady's life, a real living memorial.
"What we have here is a design between the formal and informal - quite removed from the concept of traditional 19th or 20th Century monuments."
The Queen Mother's Memorial Garden was opened to the public after the Royal Family's visit.
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This will be a living and growing tribute to my beloved grandmother
