Princess of Wales gets her hands dirty at addiction charity gardening session
Princess of Wales gets her hands dirty at addiction charity gardening session
Victoria WardThu, September 24, 2026 at 3:36 PM UTC
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The Princess of Wales visited the Forward Trust to mark Addiction Awareness Week - Chris Jackson/via Reuters
The Princess of Wales turned down the offer of gloves to get her hands dirty during a gardening session at an addiction charity.
She helped to pot plants at Garon Park in Southend, Essex, where she sought to highlight the importance of engaging with the natural world and spending time outdoors.
When asked whether she did much gardening at home, she replied: “A little bit.”
The Princess is patron of the Forward Trust, which aims to raise awareness of the impact of addiction and break the associated stigma.
The charity’s new community initiative in Southend, called Forward Growing, supports those who use its Treatment and Recovery Service to engage with the natural world and helps participants experience the wellbeing benefits of spending time outdoors.
The Princess potted plants at a picnic bench while she chatted to charity representatives. She similarly opted not to wear gardening gloves in July 2025 when she knelt to plant roses with bare hands at the RHS’s Wellbeing Garden at Colchester Hospital, Essex, reportedly saying she wanted to “feel the earth”.
The Princess has told of her strong connection to nature - Chris Jackson/PA
Dr Liam King, assistant manager at Garon Park, told the Princess that the scheme brought recovering addicts to its cricket ground, which also has a nature trail and surrounding allotment space to grow vegetables.
Pointing to a sign that said “beehive”, the Princess, a keen beekeeper, asked whether they had hives.
Dr King explained that you can enter and experience what it is like to be a bee. “It’s mostly for kids but you’re welcome to have a look,” he told her.
“It sounds right up my street,” she laughed.
Dr King told her he had studied ecology and farming “buffer zones” to help combat climate change, prompting her to respond: “I should have my husband here. He knows more about that.”
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Steph Sampson, 45, told the Princess that her daughter Mia, 21, had written her a five-page letter begging her to stop drinking, which she read in rehab.
Ms Sampson has been sober for six and a half months and told the Princess she got “goosebumps” when her daughter told her how proud she was in a birthday card in August.
Ms Sampson said: “Being in rehab and learning that it was an illness was a massive turning point. I could explain that to my children and my mum.”
The Princess told her: “It’s such a powerful message for others. Well done.
“It’s a shame your family isn’t here. They must be super proud.”
The Princess heard moving stories from people recovering from addiction - Chris Jackson/PA
The Princess made the visit to mark Addiction Awareness Week.
Each year around 17,000 people die from drug or alcohol-related causes in the UK.
The Princess has been open about the transformative experience of being outdoors following her cancer diagnosis in early 2023.
She has described how her illness gave her a new perspective, which was a “very spiritual and very intense emotional reconnection” with the natural world. The experience has caused her to reassess her priorities and in some ways, her approach to her public work.
While spending time outdoors had always been a priority, she has increasingly extolled the healing virtues of connecting with nature.
In 2025, the Princess said: “By talking about it in the open, together we can bring addiction and the harm it causes out of the shadows. We can reframe this issue with kindness and understanding, and we can help individuals and families coping with addiction know they are not alone.”
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
