Two shire horses transported flowers to the Queen from central London, where they were turned into compost for royal parks. It was described as “a” “fitting”Last tribute.
Heath, 17, and Nobby, 14, who appeared in the late monarch’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, pulled flatbed drays filled with bouquets laid in Green Park, to Kensington Gardens where the floral tributes will be turned into mulch.
The two senior greys are among a number of horses helping to carry the flowers to Kensington Gardens’ leaf pen throughout this week.
The compost will be used to enrich the soil of London’s royal parks, including the floral displays outside Buckingham Palace, which provided the backdrop to the Queen’s funeral processions.
Royal Parks staff members and volunteers began to remove floral tributes from Green Park, Yui Mok/PAPA Wire/PA Images – Yui Mok
Bryony, Royal Parks programme manager, stated that the process of recruiting volunteers for the tributes has been made easier by Bryony. “perfect sense” because of the late monarch’s environmental legacy.
“I think it makes perfect sense really, the Queen and King Charles, both really conservation-focused on sustainability and the environment, so it makes a lot of sense to take those flowers left for her and then really literally feed them back into the parks,”She spoke.
“It seems fitting that that happens.”
The bouquets were pulled by flatbed drays to Kensington Gardens, Yui Mok/PAPA Wire/PA Images – Yui Mok
She continued: “I think it’s definitely what she would have wanted – she wouldn’t have wanted any waste.”
Park manager of Green Park and St James’s Park Mark Wasilewski said the process represented “new life”This would allow the parks to flourish.
“In a way, it’s sort of new life, rebirth, and I think it’s exactly what she would have wanted,”He said.
Mr Wasilewski said the scenes in Green Park’s floral tribute garden had been “overwhelming”.
The floral tributes could be made into material. ‘help sustain the royal parks for the next 500 years’ (Yui Mok/PA)PA Wire/PA Images – Yui Mok
“Everyone getting involved, so many people smelling the perfume of the flowers here, coming with children to lay flowers, read cards and look at tributes. It really, really has been so overwhelming to see that.”
He estimated “hundreds of thousands”Over the national mourning period, Green Park and the surrounding areas saw a lot more people than ever before. He said that he had seen many bouquets in the park and the surrounding area.
Andrew Williams, park manager at Kensington Gardens, who is responsible for overseeing the compost process, said the floral tributes would contribute towards nurturing the parks’ soils for the next 500 years.
“To be able to turn the floral tributes into a material that’s going to go back into the parks, feeding and nurturing our soils, which really helps to sustain these parks for the next 500 years – the Queen’s floral tributes will play a key role in that,”He said.
The Royal Parks, a charity that helps to maintain 5,000 acres royal parkland on behalf of the Government, is called The Royal Parks.