Designer Reveals What It’s Like to Work With Duchess Sophie — and the ‘Bizarre’ Meeting He'll Never Forget
Ahead of unveiling the garden at the Royal Windsor Flower Show, a landscape designer offered a rare behind-the-scenes look at his collaboration with Duchess Sophie.
When she isn’t carrying out duties that have earned her a reputation as one of the most reliable members of the royal family, Duchess Sophie can often be found championing causes close to her heart. She has become a trusted confidante for King Charles to navigate sensitive family matters and a sisterly pillar of support for Princess Kate. Recently, instead of letting her name be part of a royal project, the Duchess has involved herself in every step of the way in designing the forthcoming Plants with Purpose garden. Ahead of the garden's debut at the Royal Windsor Flower Show, landscape designer Alan Williams shared a rare, behind-the-scenes look at their collaboration, recalling one particularly memorable meeting that left him both thrilled and a bit overwhelmed.
Williams got candid with Good Housekeeping about how working with the Duchess was a far more hands-on experience than many might expect. He elaborated by saying, “It’s been magical. It’s been amazing. The Duchess has just been so involved in the process from start to finish.” While stressing how the collaboration was a genuinely shared experience, he revealed, “It’s not just one-sided, or it’s not me putting things in front of the Duchess and saying, ‘This is what we’re doing.’ She’s been really involved in the whole process. We’ve changed materials, and we’ve chosen them together, and we’ve talked it all through to make sure that she’s happy with them.” This close, collaborative dynamic naturally led to a series of highly detailed, intensive planning sessions between the two.
Those meetings also had novelty trailing behind them that William admits never completely wore off. He recalled and remarked, “We’ve had some amazing meetings talking through what her likes are and her dislikes are like, and what I’m into.” Yet one aspect stood out above all others. “It’s always bizarre and weird, isn’t it? When you get to go and meet at one of the royal households and sit there and have a cup of coffee with them and just talk about stuff that you’re really passionate about.” Most of these meetings took place in Bagshot Park. That’s where Williams first presented mood boards to the Duchess with his perception of the potential outline for the garden.
One particular feature instantly became the Duchess’s favorite. Williams revealed that he included a potting shed in one of his presentations and kept it a secret, as he had a hunch that the royal would love it. He expressed, “I sneakily included it [potting shed] on the mood board within the final presentation of ideas because I knew she was gonna love it.” And of course, he was right; “As soon as she saw it, she absolutely fell in love with it.” Their collaboration wasn’t just limited to meeting rooms; the pair also decided to jointly visit Creeper's nursery, as they personally wanted to select plants and trees. While looking back on the experience, Williams shared, “We’ve chosen bits and pieces to go in there to make it really special.”
The project itself began after Williams put forward the idea during a conversation with Adam Scott, known to be the Duchess’s head gardener at Bagshot Park and Windsor Castle. While speaking of the moment, Williams elaborated, “I mooted the idea to Adam, and he said he loved it and said, ‘Let’s see if the Duchess would like it.’” Sophie was in favor of it, leading to what Williams then perceived as “an amazing conversation about what we would like that garden to be” over tea, coffee, and biscuits. The project is set to become Sophie’s next major public engagement after her recent appearance in Geneva. The finished Plants with Purpose Garden will be unveiled next month, and its goal is to raise awareness about healthy soil, food production, and opportunities for young people in agriculture and other causes closely aligned with the Duchess’s longstanding work on sustainable food production.
