Camilla praises the power of nature as therapy during hospice visit

The Queen has praised the power of nature as she visited a hospice she described as “such a lovely place”.

Camilla met nurses, doctors, patients and their families as she toured one of her oldest patronages: the Royal Trinity Hospice in Clapham, south London.

She spent time talking to the members of a bereavement group which meets every month and uses nature therapy to try and help deal with loss.

Camilla told the group “you can’t beat nature, can you?”

They told her of how one exercise included going outside into the garden and filling the jar with items such as flowers and leaves that represented their grief or reminded them of their loved one who had died.

Somehow, being outside and doing this activity helped them express their grief and being with others who understood their emotions was very bonding at a particularly difficult time.

Camilla told them: “It is a lovely idea. It would be a really good idea for hospices to follow suit.”

She added: “You can think outside and get all your thoughts together.”

In the garden, she met several volunteers tending to the grounds and chatted to Philip Hunter, of Wandsworth, whose wife, Hermione, who had pancreatic cancer, died at the hospice in April.

They had been married for 44 years and she spent 44 days at the hospice.

His one-day-a week volunteering session in the garden, started just four weeks ago, is helping him deal with his grief and to thank the place which provided such “incredible care” to his family.

The freelance, biomedical research writer and father of three adult daughters said: ”I lost my wife in April. It is a good way to deal with the bereavement and to give back.”

Another gardener Camilla chatted to was Paul Oliver, whose wife Loretta, 50, died from late-diagnosed ovarian cancer at the hospice in 2013, when her daughter and son were aged just 10 and eight.

Since then, he has helped to raise funds for the Royal Trinity, where one of the inpatient rooms is named after Loretta and, when he retired in 2020, he began volunteering in the garden.

He told Camilla: “She spent the last six weeks here in May of 2013 and we spent a lot of time in the garden so this is to say thank you and to connect.

“She had incredible care, my kids were quite young at the time and Trinity was a fabulous support to us at that time.”

He said afterwards: “It’s like a family here. I’ve met a lot of other bereaved people who work in the garden, I’ve got some fantastic friends.

“At a time when your world is falling apart, you are supported by people. They looked after my wife and it allowed us to spend quality time with her.”

Rohan Arias who, at the age of nine, has become a superstar fundraiser for the hospice, later proudly handed over a batch of cookies he had baked.

A delighted Camilla responded: “Are you a good cook? Do you like baking? We will see you in Bake Off soon.

“I will probably eat them on the way back – they look good.”

The local lad was introduced to the hospice via his school when he was five years old and went out knocking on doors in the neighbourhood to help raise funds.

In the last three years, Rohan has raised more than £5,000 for Trinity and, each year, he challenges himself to top his prior previous year’s total.

He has hosted picnics, baked cakes and cookies, and even cooked two-course family meals to raise awareness and money for this worthy cause.

Rohan also bakes cakes for the nurses and staff at the hospice as well as to grieving families at Trinity’s remembrance evening.

Earlier, Camilla met Helen Brewerton, the hospices’ head of specialist community nursing, who leads 27 staff who look after about 400 people in the community.

She gave Camilla a 20th anniversary pin as special recognition of her long service in supporting the hospice.

Camilla responded it was “one of the first patronages that I took up and I am glad I am still here”.

She also told the staff she was “glad to be back” as “it is such a lovely place”.