The royals at Chelsea Flower Show – in pictures

The Duchess of Cambridge has shared family photographs of the young royals larking around in her garden at the Chelsea Flower Show, which opens to the public tomorrow.

Kate Middleton teamed up with landscape architects Andree Davies and Adam White to design the Back to Nature Garden, which was devised with the aim of encouraging families to spend more time outdoors.

The Duke and Duchess’s children, Prince George, five, Princess Charlotte, four, and one-year-old Prince Louis helped gather moss, leaves and twigs to decorate the display.

In images taken by award-winning photographer Matt Porteous, the two older children sit with thir legs dangling over the side of a bridge

Prince William helps Prince Louis on a rope swing, while Princess Charlotte swings alone

George climbs up a waterfall as Louis runs around with a stick 

“The garden’s centrepiece contains a high-platform tree house, clad in stag horn oak that draws inspiration from a bird or animal nest. It also features a swing seat, rustic den and a campfire as well as tree stumps, stepping stones and a hollow log for children to play on,” says Hello! magazine 

The Duchess returned to the show today with a group of schoolchildren, climbing into the treehouse and roasting marshmallows.

“The Duchess of Cambridge is a strong advocate for the benefits that the outdoors has on physical and mental health, and the positive impact that nature and the environment can have on childhood development,” says Town & Country magazine.

Speaking to presenter Monty Don for a BBC interview, she said: “There’s an amazing fact I learnt recently that 90% of our adult brains are developed before the age of five. And really what a child experiences in those really early years directly affects how the brain develops and that’s why I think that it’s so important that all of us, whether we’re parents or carers or family members, really engage in quality time with children and babies from a really, really young age.”