Chelsea Flower Show 2011 Royal Visit004

The Queen was due to visit the show this afternoon

Celebrities including Jeremy Paxman, Rowan Atkinson and Michael McIntyre flocked to the Chelsea Flower Show today (19 May).

Amid the highest temperatures recorded at the Royal Horticultural Society-organised event since 2010, the talk was of how the conditions might affect competitors during the judging this morning.

Attractions at this year's Chelsea Flower Show, which opens to ticket-holding members of the public from tomorrow until Friday, include a 'No Man's Land' show garden to mark 100 years since the start of the First World War, the Vikings Cruise Norse Garden, designed by Sadie May Stowell and featuring actors dressed as the famous Norse invaders, and an NFU display featuring fruits, vegetables and flowers supplied by British growers.

BBC TV presenter Alan Titchmarsh, meanwhile, has designed the RHS garden - his first display at the show for 30 years.

And Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was due to attend the event for a viewing this afternoon.