Not in Front of the Corgis by Brian Hoey

Author:Brian Hoey [Brian Hoey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781849542487
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
Published: 2011-03-27T11:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

WHY WORK FOR ROYALTY?

he Royal Household actively encourages recruitment in practically all its categories, offering a wide range of benefits and rewards. What they don’t offer is high salaries. Nobody joins the Household just for the money – or if they do, they are soon disappointed. Most of the jobs available at Buckingham Palace are better paid outside, but none compares in terms of prestige. And young men and women soon realise that a couple of years’ service with fairly rigid discipline and poor wages can practically guarantee an open door to more lucrative employment elsewhere. Nothing influences would-be employers – particularly foreigners – more than a reference written on paper headed with the royal crest.

One former footman at Buckingham Palace left after three years and was immediately snapped up by an American billionaire who not only paid him $75,000 a year to be his butler, but provided him with a house and two cars: one for himself and another for his wife.

If a young man or woman is starting out on a career in catering or hotel management, he or she cannot do better than a few years working for The Queen.

It is still possible to obtain employment simply by turning up at the side door of Buckingham Palace (it’s the one alongside The Queen’s Gallery) and asking for a job. You won’t be turned away. Everyone is seen. But the days when that was all it took are long gone and with security now of prime importance, every applicant – and they receive over 4,000 every year – is vetted and thoroughly checked after they have completed the complicated application form, that takes at least an hour to fill in.

And in this age of technology, when every young man and woman is computer literate, the Palace advertises on the internet, so attracts interest from all over the world. They also stress that diversity is the name of the game, so people of every race, religion and sexual orientation are encouraged to apply. But, so far, the number of black front of house staff at Buckingham Palace can be counted on the fingers of both hands.

Technical colleges in Britain are breeding grounds for junior Palace staff and the students cut their teeth by being sent to help out at State Banquets as assistant waiters to give them an idea of what could lay ahead if they decided to apply.

Buckingham Palace has twelve footmen and just three footwomen (who are still called footmen) and they will not increase this ratio. The reason is that footmen have to be able to be used as valets from time to time when male visitors are expected and female valets would not be suitable as they could find themselves in a compromising situation.

An applicant for a job as footman is seen by the Sergeant Footman, the ‘foreman’ of this section of the Master of the Household’s department. If he passes this test he is then interviewed by the Deputy Master and asked lots

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