Queen Elizabeth greeted by Stephen Hawking

May 25, 2010, 12:02 GMT

Britain's Queen Elizabeth was greeted by Professor Stephen Hawking at yesterday's (24.05.10) Chelsea Flower Show.

The 84-year-old monarch was the VIP guest at the world famous gardening exhibition in a sun-drenched London and was given a special preview of the garden inspired by the world famous theoretical physicist.

Hawking - who has suffered from debilitating Motor Neurone for many years - met the queen by saying: "Good evening Ma'am."

The physicist is hoping the impressive display of fauna, flora and water features commissioned by the Motor Neurone Disease Association wins a coveted gold medal at the show.

The garden - which is surrounded by a circular stone wall representing a protected and safe place and two meteorites, 4,500 million years old - also has a small dark circular pond representing a black hole which swallows all matter that comes too close.

The queen - who was accompanied to the event by husband Prince Philip - was also shown an Australian garden, exotic orchids from Taiwan and a space commissioned by Laurent Perrier, which features a collection of bronze chairs which had got hot in the blazing sun.

Tom Stuart from the garden said: "I told her that if she sat on one of them it would burn her bottom for life, that really made her laugh."