Share Tweet Pin Email By Molly Claire Goddard 8:47am PDT, Aug 11, 2025 _ King Charles III is extremely protective of his gardens at Highgrove.
According to author Tom Bower - who wrote the book Rebel King about the leader of England - there's been tension between Charles and the workers coming in to tend to the grounds at the family's country residence. Keep reading to learn about the royal's alleged feuds with horticulturists...
MORE: Follow Wonderwall on MSN for more top news _ In the new tell-all, Tom Bower claims King Charles III and landscape designer Sir Roy Strong had a frosty encounter when the specialist was invited to tend to the gardens at Highgrove, which is a two-hour drive from London. "Roy Strong was summoned to advise on the cultivation of hedges. He spent days with his own gardener perfecting his ideas," the writer alleged in the biography. "At the end, he submitted his employee's bill for 1,000 pounds and was never asked to return or even thanked. Strong had personally inscribed a copy of his book on gardening to Charles, but it was left in a waiting room rather than included in the prince's library." "'He's shocked by the sight of an invoice. So, he likes people who don't charge for their services,'" Strong pointed out in Bower's book. _ Tensions with gardeners and specialists is reportedly nothing new for King Charles III. According to Tom Bower, there's allegedly been other occasions when the monarch expected people to tend to the garden or pay tribute to it without compensation. "To make up a floragim (a book of paintings of Highgrove's flowers), Charles recruited over 20 artists to paint two or three flowers each, for free," the writer penned. "Similarly, he approached Jonathan Heale, a woodcut artist, for some of this work, which he expected to be donated as a gift." "One of the few artists known to have rebuffed similar demands was Lucian Freud. Would Freud swap one of his oils, which sold for millions of pounds, for one of Charles' watercolors?" Bower explained."I don't want one of your rotten paintings," Freud reportedly replied to the potential favor. _ According to a recent report, 11 of the 12 people on King Charles III's gardening team have quit, including the head gardener and his deputy, in the past three years.
Per the investigation, staffers were unhappy with their pay, making only minimum wage. Employees were also uncomfortable with the 76-year-old's uptight micromanagement of the grounds. _ In 2023, one disgruntled employee filed a complaint about the operations of King Charles III's beloved gardens, claiming the workers were under-resourced and struggling to fulfill the leader's high demands. "There is little management of HMTK (His Majesty the King's) expectations, and I know I would not be allowed to say we are understaffed," the anonymous staffer alleged. James Whatling / MEGA James Whatling / MEGA James Whatling / MEGA James Whatling / MEGA MEGA Up Next The post King Charles' history of feuds with gardeners revealed appeared first on Wonderwall.com.