Queen Camilla talks to bereavement group whose members use nature therapy to cope

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Queen Camilla visited Royal Trinity Hospice in London today, where she met patients and members of the Nature Therapy Bereavement Group before thanking staff for the dedicated care they provide

Camilla, Queen Consort met members of a bereavement group today — and saw how nature therapy helps the members grieve.

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.

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, southwest London, 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.

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