VERBATIM

Among the much-beleaguered and no longer tax-exempt House of Windsor, belt-tightening has seemingly begun with a vengeance. From a recent press release:

A collection of handblown clay pots from Windsor Castle will be on display at the Chelsea America Flower Show to be held in Rancho Palos Verdes in February. They will later be offered for sale by HORTUS, a recently opened garden store in Pasadena.

The royal antique pots date mostly from the 1800s. Gary Jones, owner of HORTUS, happened upon a notice while in England that the old plantsmen’s pots would be for sale through a London antiques dealer. What brought about the sale of the Windsor pots? “The need for practicality,” said a castle spokesman.