The images show the heir to the throne in his 30s, doing some of the heavy lifting involved at first in creating his Gloucestershire rural idyll. In one, he is shown with secateurs in one hand and a cutting of a shrub in the other, dressed casually in an opened-necked checked shirt and belted chinos. Others reveal the spectacular results he has achieved and his pride in his achievement is clear in his smile.

Though as king he will have Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Balmoral and other royal residences at his disposal, courtiers say it is hard to imagine he will ever give up Highgrove, which he now shares with his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall. When the Duchy of Cornwall acquired the nine-bedroom late 18th century house and its 347-acre estate for £865,000 in 1980 it had only a kitchen garden, an overgrown copse, some pastureland and a few hollow oaks.

But Charles immediately set about transforming it, getting his hands dirty in the process and reportedly talking to his flowers to encourage them. The gardens, standing in 37 acres around the house, were opened to the public in 1994 and some 37,000 people now visit each year on pre-booked tours between April and mid-October.

The archive photographs released by Clarence House today mark the 25 years they have been coming.

The garden tours, along with events, retail and catering at Highgrove, have raised more than £7million for good causes.

All profits from the sale of Highgrove products, garden tours and events go to the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund.

Unusual garden features at Highgrove include The Stumpery, with its tree stumps, ferns, wood carved sculptures and oak temple.

It also has a thatched tree house, which was built for Prince William’s seventh birthday in 1989. It was recently refurbished for Charles’s grandson Prince George.

The one-acre Kitchen Garden, virtually derelict when the Prince moved in, now provides most of the fruit and vegetables Highgrove needs.

There is a Cottage Garden. And the Wildflower Meadow fills four acres in front of the house.

Charles, 70, says: “One of my greatest joys is to see the pleasure that the garden can bring to many of the visitors.

“Everybody seems to find some part that is special to them.”

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