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Inside a royal fairy tale

Working for the Royals, by Brian Hoey

ABOUT fifteen years ago, I spent a day on a barge in Hong Kong with, among others, a man who had risen in the Disney ranks. I recall my fascination at his commitment to the organisation, and his determination to be part of it. He had identified 11 ways to get employed by the organisation, if his first attempt at working there failed.

While Disney deals in fantasy, the business of the organisation is very real. It employs 175 000 people and has a market capitalisation of $46bn.

I recalled my day on the barge as I read Hoey’s account of work at Buckingham Palace, residence of the British Royal family. In Britain, the number of huge properties and estates that once belonged to aristocracy have dwindled to less than ten. One, however, stands out - Buckingham Palace, London.

Set in 45 acres of prime residential property in the heart of the city, the property would easily fetch £1bn on the open market. It is the home of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. It has about 365 rooms, 19 state apartments, 52 bedrooms, and 92 offices. Buckingham Palace has a bank, post office and police station.

There are hundreds of servants, with male staff dressing in formal tailcoat uniforms with brass buttons. Among staff and servants, there is a strict hierarchy and a clear divide between them and the royals. Little has changed here in centuries.

A “delicate etiquette” permeates this palace and is most evident in the relationships between the royals and staff. New recruits are warned never to mistake apparent friendliness for familiarity. Royals are never familiar with staff but may well be friendly. Staff are always deferential.

Not always right, but never wrong

The whim of a royal is an instruction to be fulfilled immediately and fully. ‘Royalty may not always be right, but they are never wrong,’ Hoey explains.

The palace is not without a lighter side. William Tallon was a page to the queen mother for some 40 years, and they had a particularly close relationship. The tale goes that William and his partner Reg were having an argument so loud that neither heard the queen mother ringing for them. Eventually, she stormed into the pantry and said: "When you two old queens have finished arguing, this old Queen would like a glass of champagne."

After staying at the Palace, Hillary Clinton said: "It was like stepping inside a fairy tale." The palace runs like clockwork, through the dedication of an experienced team who are devoted to their work. They have only one aim in mind: the comfort of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

In July each year, everyone moves from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle for the annual Royal Ascot horse race, the queen's favourite sport. Special guests are invited to stay at the castle, and all are assigned a footman or housemaid to look after their every need, and to brief them on how they should deport themselves.

They are required to have at least three changes of clothing each day: a jacket and tie for breakfast, a morning suit for the races, and a tuxedo for dinner every night. Ladies wear hats at the races and an evening gown for dinner, preferably with a tiara. Guests are also given a small map of the castle in case they get lost.

The queen is addressed as “Her Majesty” or Ma’am, pronounced like “ham.” Men should give a short ‘neck bow’ and women should curtsy (a small ‘bob’ is sufficient.)

Real work does go on at the palace. The queen hosts many state banquets for as many as 180 guests. “Afternoon Parties”, usually held in July, have up to 9 000 guests served 36 000 cups of tea and coffee, 55 000 cakes, pastries and sandwiches, and 500 gallons of ice-cream. The queen is indeed the nation’s hostess.

In addition to this aspect of the royal activities, there is the business of being the queen. Her senior staff member, the private secretary to the queen, is the chief executive of the House of Windsor. He is the conduit between the queen and her prime minister and all other government departments. He links the queen to her 15 realms as well as every foreign ambassador and high commissioner in London.

To keep the royal palace and the queen’s activities in perfect order requires hundreds of people. Of these, only a dozen are allowed daily contact with the queen. Most employees are of a lower status doing work more mundane than attending to affairs of state. They clean windows, make food, vacuum acres of carpets and keep the palace and is functioning in impeccable order.

There are four rules governing everyone who works for the Queen: “Restraint, Elegance, Resolution, and Calmness under stress.” This is Downton Abbey in the extreme.

So why do employees choose this work? At every level, employees earn less than they could elsewhere. Fewer than 50 members of the royal household earn six-figure salaries. Those in highest levels in the palace can command many times what they currently earn. The lower domestic staff are not even paid the average working wage in Britain. Some even work unpaid. All are required to sign a confidentiality contract.

Royal chef, Mark Flanagan, is among the highest paid at the staff level earning about £45 000 per annum. For people like him a reference from Buckingham Palace almost guarantees access to any job in any country. Several footmen have found high paying jobs in the United States working for very wealthy men. However, this is not the norm.

 “Ask anyone who has been at the Palace for a couple of years, why they do it and what satisfaction they receive and the answer will invariably be: ‘Because we do the job to the best of our ability, we are perhaps, making life just a little easier for Her Majesty,’ Hoey explains.

The organisation that is the Palace today has changed little since Queen Victoria’s time 150 years ago. There are now more than 400 men and women catering for just one woman and one man: the 88-year-old Queen, and her 93-year-old husband.

Together they maintain an ideal of a stately world, partially arrested in time. Together they are committed to something almost ethereal, the extension of this era. The answer to whether this is justifiable or valuable bears a striking resemblance for me to the discussion I had on the barge in Hong Kong about Disney.

Disney is devoted to fantasy that makes people happy, allows a benign escape, and entertains. Buckingham Palace is devoted to preserving the ideal of grandeur, lest it fade away.

Those who choose to commitment their working lives to this cause, see a valuable contribution.
 
Readability:    Light -+--- Serious
Insights:        High ---+- Low
Practical:        High ----+ Low

 - Fin24

*Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy and is the author of Strategy that Works. Views expressed are his own.


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