Behind Palace Walls: In the Service of a Saudi Princess by Cay Garcia

Author:Cay Garcia [Garcia, Cay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, General, Biography & Autobiography, Butler, Working abroad, Princess
ISBN: 9780624066033
Google: KwJSBAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Tafelberg
Published: 2014-04-03T20:56:01+00:00

Desert dinner

PRINCESS ARABELLA calls me up to her room. She is in a happy mood and childlike in her excitement as she tells me to prepare as we are heading into the desert tomorrow evening. No travelling arrangement is discussed with any of the staff until the day before an event. This is a safety precaution, adhered to strictly by the entire extended royal family. It makes for an extremely stressful time for the staff lower on the hierarchy as they have to get everything together in a couple of hours.

My princess’s preparations start early in the morning. Outfit after outfit is brought up from the basement as she decides what to wear for the night. By the time she has made a selection, every available surface in her vast bedroom is covered with piles of discarded clothes.

“Dress warmly,” she says, smiling from ear to ear. She is sitting crossed-legged on her bed, her knees bouncing up and down as she excitedly tells me what to expect. She is so utterly endearing when she is in this mood. How I wish I could reach her and show her that there is more to life than this gilded cage. Her nasty moods are embedded in past hurts that she clings to as tightly as she does to Allah.

The drivers are on standby and start at six in the morning, carting truckloads of goods to kit out the royal tents in the desert. Persian carpets, pillows, music systems, snacks, exquisite chocolates and enough soft drinks for a month. We accompany our individual princesses in their cars and the royal convoy sets out for the desert at around two in the afternoon.

The princess is suddenly in a bad mood and sits staring sullenly out of the window. Apart from shouting at the driver a couple of times, she does not utter a word which dampens my excitement but that is not my main concern. When she is like this, huge issues can arise at any time, whether imagined or real.

Every time we hit a bump, she shakes her head and clucks her tongue. After an hour and a half of travelling, 30 minutes of it extremely bumpy as there is no specific road to follow, we arrive at the camping site. I help the princess out and take her abaya and handbag for safekeeping. We have not spoken one word during the trip. I have a knot in my stomach. It is late afternoon and I have no way of knowing how long we will be in the desert.

I have asked Serge to feed the cats tonight although I know that, after living in Saudi for almost 20 years, he probably feels the same way about them as the locals. At least he has the good sense not to admit it to me.

Several large tents are dotted around a huge sand dune. The vast desert stretches out from it as far as you can see. One of the tents, with plump pillows strewn around, is the men’s lounge for the drivers and other male staff.

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