The lease of Frogmore House in the grounds of the Home Park at Windsor Castle, was acquired for Queen Charlotte, George III’s consort, in 1792. It sat adjacent to the smaller estate of ‘Little Frogmore’, the lease of which was already held by Queen Charlotte. The merging of the two estates allowed Queen Charlotte to indulge her interest in gardening and botany, by landscaping the grounds which came to nearly 35 acres (14 hectares).

The lake, depicted here in a watercolour from the year of Queen Charlotte’s death, was created by 1796. Overlooked by the garden front of the house, it provided a focal point around which pleasure buildings were added at various points.

The planting of the garden with trees, shrubs and flowers took place over the course of many years, with plants arriving from the nurseries in the Great Park, commercial nurseries and from the botanic gardens at Kew, which provided hydrangeas, daphnes, magnolias, clematis, cyclamens and anemones amongst other plants.