Graham Dillamore is currently the Deputy Head of all Gardens belonging to historic Royal Palaces. His responsibilities include overseeing the Gardens at Hampton Court Palace and Kensington Palace.
Graham began his career when he joined the Royal Parks in 1980 as an apprentice gardener. The three-year apprenticeship was a great starting place to begin a long career in horticulture and he got to ‘weed & dig’ in some high-profile places such as Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing street.
In 1985 Graham was appointed the head Gardener at Kensington Palace and was also honoured to be employed by the Royal Household for the Price & Princes of wales at Kensington.
In 1990 he joined historic Royal Palaces at Hampton Court and took over the day to day running of the Gardens there as well as retaining his management of the Gardens at Kensington Palace. Restoring the historic Landscape and Gardens at Hampton Court Palace has kept Graham busy for 32 years but there is still more to do given the chance.
The re-presentation of the Gardens at Kensington including the recreation of a new setting for the Princess Diana Statue is just one recently successful project which he is proud of.
Trained at the Architectural Association, Graham is an active and knowledgeable Garden historian and has studied the rich and interesting story of Hampton Court and Kensington Palace for the past 20 years. Lecturing regularly Graham also manages his own consultancy business designing Gardens locally and researching a Gardens history.
Living locally in Hampton Wick he is an active member of the Park-Run community, a despairing Portsmouth FC Football fan and a qualified FIFA football coach and referee.