The queen’s gardener! Limerick man speaks about his work in award-winning palace gardens

VERY FEW people can say they have lived and worked at the very heart of the British monarchy.

And no doubt fewer Irish people can make this claim.

But a talented gardener who hails from Ballyneety not only worked at Buckingham Palace, but also has been fortunate enough to have shared several chats with the late Queen Elizabeth II on the passion for flowers they both shared.

Greg Power, now 43, is the head gardener at Sezincote House, a country estate in the west of England.

For a five-year spell as a young man in London, he worked at Britain’s prime palatial residence.

On St Patrick’s Day 2002, he swapped his quiet life in east Limerick to spend time with his cousins in east London, and, as he put it, “to have the craic.”

Without a job to return home to, he tried his luck in the British capital.

Greg (pictured), who was educated at Sexton Street CBS in the city centre, and later Ard Scoil Mhuire in Bruff, signed up to an agency providing gardening work, and within a week had his first interview.

During that, the recruiter didn’t give away the location of the assignment.

It was only when he was asked back for a second meeting things became a lot clearer for the then 22-year-old.

“They told me it would be at Buckingham Palace, and I would need to use a certain entrance to get in,” Greg recalls.

Quite understandably, the nerves were jangling, and he did as much preparation as he could before being probed by a panel including Buckingham Palace’s head gardener, deputy head gardener, and the Lord Chamberlain, who is the most senior officer of the royal household in Britain.

Greg himself asked around 20 questions and his preparation and interest paid off.

“I came out after the interview, and the head gardener told me it was the longest interview they’d ever had. Usually, they’d get one or two questions from the interviewee, but never that many! So I think they were impressed. I was asking them if I saw the queen, what should I do, the uniforms, the pay and all that kind of stuff, as well as where do I live.”

A follow-up interview saw Greg gain security clearance, and he was in, rising up the ladder to become a senior gardener in the award-winning Buckingham Palace garden.

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Travel issues from his cousins’ home in the east of London saw Greg move into the Royal Mews where many of the monarchy’s workforce live after a year in employment.

The culture shift was not lost on him, saying: “To move from Ballyneety to central London into this bubble was quite amazing,” while also paying tribute to his parents Edward and Catherine.

He was lucky enough to be stationed at the palace’s sprawling herbaceous border next to the late queen’s private apartments.

He often saw her majesty, who took daily strolls with her beloved husband, the late Prince Philip and their corgis.

“I would see her walk her dogs, her corgis, and we’d chat very informally – about the weather and gardening,” he recalled.

On the occasion of the queen’s 80th birthday in 2006, Greg filmed segments for long-running BBC children’s television show Blue Peter and the network’s horticulture staple Gardener’s World.

“It was filmed in April when the herbaceous borders were not fully bloomed. She came out the following day, and said they should have done the TV when it looked better. But she then saw it on TV a few weeks later, and came to congratulate me, saying the work I had done looked great,” he recalls.

During his time in the palace, Greg was invited by Queen Elizabeth to a number of gatherings, including the famous garden parties, while he received lavish Christmas gifts, as did everyone in the employ of the monarch. Think luxury hampers, crystal bowls and champagne flutes.

“She was very laid back. She had a great smile. She knew you and if she liked you, I think she would spend three or four minutes talking with you. But then she had 1,000 staff, so she couldn’t chat with you all the time. I get the sense she likes tall men – her husband was quite tall,” said Greg, who measures six-foot five on the height chart.

That height proved to be a struggle when Greg did some evening work as a footman in Buckingham Palace to gain some experience in a different field.

In order to do the job, he had to fit into a 1910 woolen uniform, before he provided silver service to royal families from across Europe and the world, as well as heads of state such as the former American president George Bush.

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By 2007, the travel bug was beginning to bite Greg, and he headed Stateside himself, to Pennsylvania, after securing a scholarship to do display horticulture at Longwood Gardens.

Knowing the queen’s love of the outdoors, he sent a coffee table book from Longwood back to Buckingham Palace.

“A few months later, she sent me a card thanking me for the book, and saying it was going to be in the Windsor Library. It was quite sweet of her,” said Greg.

Like so many people, Greg was left in mourning following the passing of the queen.

He journeyed back to London to file past her coffin as she lay in state, braving a nine-hour queue to do so.

“I know she is not my queen, but I was quite shocked by it. She was working on Tuesday, and by Thursday she was dead. It was important for me to say goodbye to her. I hadn’t seen her in 16 years.”