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The King's Foundation

The King’s Foundation is the custodian of Highgrove Gardens

This means The King’s Foundation charity is responsible for the upkeep of the gardens, their opening to the public and offers a range of education programmes on site.

All proceeds from Highgrove Garden Tours, products and events help to fund the work of The King’s Foundation. Inspired by the vision and values of His Majesty, the Foundation builds sustainable communities and transforms live – with the aim of helping people, places and the planet to coexist in harmony. 

At Highgrove, inspired by the work at the charity’s headquarters, Dumfries House, The King's Foundation offers workshops, programmes and short courses focused on heritage and craft skills, which all take place at specialist education workshops on site.  

The King's Foundation

The work of The King’s Foundation is inspired by His Majesty The King Charles III's philosophy of harmony: that by understanding the balance, the order and the relationships between ourselves and the natural world, we can create a more sustainable future.

For more than 40 years His Majesty has been at the forefront of championing sustainability. During the last decade, the impact of natural resource depletion, climate change and rapid urbanisation has become evident and widely understood.

The King’s Foundation is responsible for the stewardship of Dumfries House, the headquarters of The King's Foundation, Castle of Mey, and Highgrove Gardens, which includes the delivery of education courses across these estates. The charity also occupies the Garrison Chapel in London to publicly exhibit elements of The Foundation's work.

At Highgrove, The King's Foundation offers workshops, programmes, and short courses focused on heritage and craft skills. For further information, please visit The King’s Foundation at Highgrove.

Building Crafts – Carpentry, Joinery, Stonemasonry, Plasterwork, Metalwork, Brickwork, Natural Building

Textiles – Building on the success of the Future Textiles Programme

Fine Woodworking – A bespoke training course including marquetry and cabinet making

The King’s Foundation launches 35th anniversary Impact Report

The King’s Foundation has launched it’s latest Impact Report, entitled 35 Years of Impact, detailing our mission to promote harmony with nature and build sustainable communities through education programmes, thought leadership, and practical expertise. The Impact Report will be formally launched on Thursday 12 June at The King’s Foundation Awards 2025 at St James’s Palace in London. The full report is now available here.

The report covers our involvement in architecture, urbanism, heritage, regeneration, sustainable communities, natural environment, food, farming, health and wellbeing, and traditional arts and crafts. It shows that we have positively affected hundreds of thousands of lives through various programmes, including training more than 40,000 students at The King’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts, and over 90,000 people through education and health and wellbeing programmes at Dumfries House, our headquarters in East Ayrshire, Scotland. 

The document also quantifies our work over the past year (2024/2025) in promoting sustainable practices, preserving traditional skills, and improving the quality of life for communities worldwide. In 2024/25, some 410,000 people visited the our sites at Dumfries House, The Castle and Gardens of Mey in Caithness, Highgrove Gardens in Gloucestershire, and The Garrison Chapel in Chelsea, West London..

The work of The King’s Foundation is inspired by The His Majesty’s philosophy of harmony: that by understanding the balance, the order and the relationships between ourselves and the natural world we can create a more sustainable future.

“This year, we celebrate 35 years of changemaking as we mark the anniversary of our first summer school through the Institute for Architecture in 1990 – an educational model that remains a core part of the Foundation’s programmes today. At that first summer school, we brought together an exciting group of young architects who were united in the aim of building a world where its people could live in harmony with nature. From that pioneering first education programme, we have become a global charity effecting positive change on hundreds of thousands of people across the world.” 
Kristina Murrin, CEO of The King’s Foundation

The King's Foundation Sites

At the King’s Foundation, we are the custodians of beautiful and historic Royal sites such as Dumfries House, Highgrove Gardens, The Castle and Gardens of Mey, and The Garrison Chapel. Visitors can explore our properties’ unique histories and even book to stay on site for holidays and weekend getaways. The places we care for across the UK and further afield are a testament to our mission to transform communities and help people to live in harmony with the planet. Explore our King’s Foundation properties below and find out how to visit.

Dumfries House

Dumfries House is one of Britain's most beautiful stately homes. Set in 2,000 acres of land, this stunning estate and 18th-century house, with its unrivalled collection of original Chippendale furniture, has something for everyone.

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The Castle of Mey

The Castle of Mey was the cherished holiday home of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother from 1952 until 1996. Discover its fascinating history and stay in its stunning grounds, set in the beautiful landscape of Caithness, Scotland.

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The Garrison Chapel

The King's Foundation occupies the Grade II-listed Garrison Chapel in the former Chelsea Barracks in west London to publicly exhibit elements of The Foundation's work.

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The King's Foundation at Highgrove

At Highgrove, The King’s Foundation offers education courses, programmes and workshops focused on heritage and craft skills. Our programmes are modelled on the work that takes place at our charity headquarters and main education campus, Dumfries House in Ayrshire, Scotland.

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The sale of highgrove products, garden tours and events support the charitable work of the kings foundation.