Flowers fit for The King and Queen at Durham Cathedral

Preparing colourful displays fit for The King and Queen, reflections on contemporary religious art and women in scripture through paintings and poems, and services for Easter and Holy Week on the BBC.

Holy Week and Easter in our Cathedrals

Do check out details of services and events this Holy Week and Easter in all our cathedrals from donkeys leading the Palm Sunday processions, to walks of faith, and Messy Easter for all the family to explore the Easter story. Do join them during this most important time in the Christian Calendar.

The BBC’s programming for Easter includes Easter Sunday Worship live from Canterbury Cathedral on BBC Radio 4, where the Right Reverend Rose Hudson Wilkin, Bishop of Dover, will preach an Easter message of hope and resurrection.

New series, Gareth Malone’s Messiah follows the choirmaster as he stages his own performance of this popular choral piece in Cardiff’s Llandaff Cathedral.

And there’s a festive Choral Evensong for Easter Day on BBC Radio 3 from Newcastle Cathedral with celebratory music by Howells, Paulus, and Vaughan Williams, sung by the cathedral choir.

Flowers fit for The King and Queen at Durham Cathedral.

Long-standing volunteers are working with Floral Designer and Flower Farmer Deborah Simpson Boston to create spectacular flower arrangements to decorate Durham Cathedral for the Royal Maundy Service on Thursday 17 April.

The Royal Maundy Service will be attended by King Charles III and Queen Camilla, where The King expresses his gratitude for those who serve and volunteer in their communities.

His Majesty will present 152 recipients, 76 men and 76 women (representing the age of the Monarch), with specially-minted Maundy Money, thanking them for their outstanding Christian service. The recipients have been nominated and invited from the Diocese of Durham and other dioceses across the Province of York, Wales and Scotland.

To celebrate the occasion, Deborah has sought advice from renowned florist, Shane Connolly, the designer behind the flowers for The King & Queen’s Coronation in 2023, the wedding of King Charles III and Camilla, the Queen Consort in 2005 and the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales in 2011.

Deborah uses sustainable floristry practices, including foam-free floral mechanics and British Flowers that The King and Queen support and have incorporated.

With the floral designs finalised, the Cathedral Flower Arranging Volunteers are practising creating the Urn and Bowl displays in the weeks leading up to the service.

Olive Simpson, a Cathedral Flower Arranger Volunteer for 41 years, said,

“It’s a privilege to be involved in creating flower arrangements for the Royal Maundy service, however it’s not the first display I have made for royalty, as I made the bouquet for HRH Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother’s visit in June 1987 which were placed on the book signing table.”

Chris Darke, who has been a flower arranger since she was 17, has a diploma in interior design and floristry and was originally self-taught in making floral baskets as a teen.

She said,

“It makes someone’s day when you give them a bouquet of flowers, so it’s fabulous to be involved in the Royal Maundy service, and a lovely ’once-in-a-lifetime’ experience to have”.

Deborah Simpson Boston has been leading the team of flower arrangers at Durham Cathedral, teaching them sustainable practices and creating arrangements suitable for royalty. With her work towards sustainability, Deb has been recognised as the Ambassador for the North East for Sustainable Church Flowers.

Flowers for the Royal Service have been grown at Deborah’s farm, and smaller growers in County Durham, Northumberland and North Yorkshire.

Photo credit – Duncan Lomax