NOT for nothing is it called the Belgravia, after London’s poshest district, home of Buckingham Palace. The Belgravia Flower School may be in South Benfleet, but clients get the royal treatment.

The tutor is Katy Geddes, a 28-year-old florist and entrepreneur who has been introduced to the Queen.

Katy has opened her floral school on the eve of another high-profile venture, a key role in the BBC TV series Beat the Boss.

In the show, Katy has to use her entrepreneur’s mind to match wits with three clever children in producing and marketing a new product. The show debuts on February 12.

Multi award-winning Katy has already featured on an Australian TV series about high-flying businesswomen, Ms Entrepreneur.

Australian business journalist Peter Switzer referred to her as “one of the most inspirational young businesswomen emerging on the world scene right now.”

But whatever the future of her TV career, Katy intends, to stay rooted in Benfleet. “The school is my little project,” she says.

“I always want to keep the school going and teach in it personally.”

School sessions take place in a specially installed chalet behind the florist shop that Katy has run for five years.

“I love teaching and I like the idea of passing on the knowledge we have acquired as professionals to people in all walks of life,” she says.

As well as letting clients in on some of the tricks of the trade, Katy also makes a point of conveying how tough the floristry business can be. “People walk past a florist’s shop and they think how pretty it all is.

“They do not see the gruelling speed we work at, the 14-hour days, or the 1.30am visits to the market. What they get at the school is the fun and the pleasure side.”

Customers may also be regaled with stories about the day Katy met the Queen, at a function for high achieving women.

“It still seems amazing,” she says. “I was in the same room as the Queen, the woman who runs Green and Black chocolates, and Sharon Osborne.”