Inside today's Royal Household

The art of running the royal residencies

In the modern world the Royal Household employs people in a wide range of jobs, from retail buyers to conservationists. Some of the jobs available 100 years ago aren’t necessary these days – for example, Keeper Of The Lions In The Tower and Yeoman Of The Mouth To Her Majesty Queen Mary In The Pantry.

Typically, a monarch had more than 1,000 employees, with the Master Of The Household’s department being the largest, sometimes with a staff of 700. Nowadays, that particular department has shrunk to around 250 employees, but their function remains largely the same. They organise everything to do with the Royal Family’s social diary, including travel, hospitality, catering and housekeeping for official and private entertaining at all Royal residences. The Royal Household currently employs around 1,200 staff.

The most recent addition to the five departments is The Royal Collection department, which was established in 1987. The department manages the opening of residences and looks after The Royal Collection, said to be one of the world’s greatest art collections. Jobs here include ticket sales, visitor management, curatorship, press and currently a vacancy for Senior Metalwork Conservator. By contrast, Private Secretaries have been around officially since the late 19th century, although, for certain reasons, George III had one, as did his two successors.

Surprisingly, working within the Royal Household doesn’t require much more than an average job elsewhere. As expected, the higher the pay grade the more experience required and the Royal Household seeks to employ the best people from the widest available pool of talent. For some jobs you must be willing to travel and work out of hours, including weekends, but that’s as far as specific requirements go. On the website it states that all employees are ‘expected to attain and demonstrate the high standards expected of an organisation which serves The Queen’. This doesn’t sound all that different from Harrods, and you would expect people applying to appreciate the world they’re entering. Those hoping to become ladies-in-waiting are chosen by the Queen herself.

The turnover within the Household is around 5.5 per cent a year, according to Robert Hardman’s book, Our Queen, so job adverts are few and far between. Currently there are five, ranging from Retail Buyer to Deputy Press Secretary to the Queen and Head of News. ‘If you have applied to work here, you probably really want to work here,’ are the words of one palace spokesman. And with a turnover that low, it must be true.