Not in Front of the Corgis (6 page)

Prince Charles has never known what it is to have to pick up his own clothes once he has undressed or changed, choose which of his 100 suits to wear, decide which shirt or tie to put on, or clean his own
shoes – an orderly from the Welsh Guards arrives at Clarence House from nearby Wellington Barracks and performs this task every day. When His Royal Highness leaves for one of his many journeys, either abroad or in Britain, someone else does the packing and unpacking, arranges the transport and makes sure he arrives at the correct place at the appointed hour. His chef selects his meals, with all his bills being paid by a man who goes by the exalted title of Treasurer to HRH’s Household.

One of the Prince’s three valets makes sure his bath has been run, with the water temperature tested with a wooden-cased thermometer, that a fresh blade is inserted in his razor before he shaves each morning and also included in his duties is the task of squeezing three quarters, no more, no less, of an inch of
toothpaste
onto the royal toothbrush.

Like almost all the Royal Family, Prince Charles hates confrontation, even with servants, and legend has it that on one occasion his then valet Stephen Barry received a handwritten note complaining that Stephen knew the Prince was right-handed, so why had he left the toothbrush that morning with the handle facing left. Barry thought there was nothing unusual in seeing this note and made sure it didn’t happen again.

Prince Charles is an ideal employer, as long as everything is perfect.

On another occasion, the Prince found three ties laid out when he was getting dressed. He asked his valet what they were for and was told that the
servant
thought he might like to select which one to wear.
Charles reprimanded the man, telling him that he should choose, which is what he was paid to do. As the Prince often has a number of engagements in London on the same day without time to return to Clarence House, his valet will place a number of different ties in the car so his master can change en route. If Charles is visiting different organisations or military
establishments
with which he is associated, he pays them the compliment of wearing their tie. The record for one day is, apparently, five different ties.

His personal staff, such as valets, who are closer to him than anyone, are treated extremely well. They all usually start off as footmen in the Palace and when they are promoted to work directly for the Heir to the Throne their living conditions and salary improves considerably. They are housed in rooms near to their principal’s, so they are on hand when he rings for them, and they no longer have to wear livery, but are sent to one of HRH’s tailors to be measured for a number of suits – at his expense. His valets all wear dark grey or navy blue suits, except when they act as loaders when he goes shooting. Then they are clad in sporting clothes, again hand-tailored, with the jackets in Balmoral tartan – and they are given instructions in how to load his shotguns at Purdeys, the royal gunsmiths. Their suits are made by one of London’s leading tailors and the valets (to all the royal men) have in the past sometimes been offered little ‘inducements’ to recommend them: an extra pair of trousers in a different pattern or a sports jacket. One even managed to obtain a brand new evening suit that he said was nicer than his boss’s.

One important lesson the Prince of Wales’s valets have to learn is the correct way to dress their master in one of his many uniforms: military, naval and Royal Air Force, and also the proper order in which his decorations should be worn. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are believed to quietly disapprove of their eldest son’s ostentatious lifestyle. He lives in a far grander manner than they enjoy, with Clarence House, said to be the most elegant council house in Britain, maintaining standards few other houses in Britain are able to sustain today.

Of course, as with Buckingham Palace, Clarence House is not merely the London home of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. It is also the centre of an enormous business undertaking, with the Prince’s links with his hundreds of charities
needing
office space. So much so that his staff, including the Prince’s Trust, has expanded to take over a large number of rooms in St James’s Palace, across Stable Yard, much to the annoyance of the Royal Collection who have been forced to abandon their own expansion plans for the building.

New staff at Clarence House – and it applies to Highgrove in Gloucestershire and Birkhall in Balmoral, where a skeleton staff remains throughout the year with the main body moving with the royal couple as and when required – rapidly learn their boss’s idiosyncrasies. He hates waste, calling it his ‘Scottish meanness’ and has been known in the past to check the contents of the larder and fridge to make sure he is not being overcharged. Food is not one of his great passions however. He prefers simple dishes;
school food really. He drinks tea in the afternoon, but unlike his father, does not care for coffee and no one can recall him ever drinking a cup.

The housemaids who work for the Prince and Duchess have a difficult task in keeping their rooms dust free. They collect so much of what the maids call junk that the rooms are dust traps and take hours to clean. And the Prince seems to know every item, where it came from, who gave it, and where its proper place is. So if one is missing, he will not rest until it’s found.

His valets are expert in knowing how to tie their master’s shoelaces. Some have to be cross-stitched and others simply tied straight, depending on which pair of shoes he is going to wear. And all laces have to be ironed whenever the shoes are taken off.

The valets keep a checklist of the outfits worn on a particular day, and where, so they can tell their
principal
if he has worn something to the same place on more than one occasion.

They also need to be taught how to recognise the different uniforms the Prince wears. Like his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles has over forty uniforms: Army, Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, plus tropical kit for his overseas tours. The valets are meticulous in making sure his decorations are placed in the correct order. His Royal Highness has an
encyclopaedic
knowledge of military medals and notices if one is even slightly out of place. And even if he didn’t, The Queen would quickly point it out. His knowledge is exceeded only by hers.

The Prince of Wales’s staff are kept on their toes as he has only one standard – perfection. He is a
temperamental man, given to introspection, and among the Royal Family he is considered to be the most indecisive member. Charles was once said to always reflect the views of the last person he had spoken to, which is not entirely fair, as he does have definite opinions of his own. However, his staff, and that includes not only the domestics but also his large secretarial team, never quite know where they stand with him. One day he will be friendly and talkative, the next distant and aloof. And, as was previously stated, as he avoids direct confrontation, it is often unclear to someone whether they have done something wrong, or indeed what that might be. The only way they can tell if they have fallen out of favour is if there is a slight cooling towards them in his manner.

However, his staff tend to remain loyal and in his service for years, so obviously he is popular as an employer. And, in spite of the ‘Scottish meanness’ he is among the most generous of the Royal Family. No one has cause to complain about their living and working conditions and he pays well above the going rate to everyone from his Private Secretary down to the most junior housemaids and footmen.

The Prince is kept informed by his staff of the comings and goings of anyone in whom they think he might have an interest. Recently, he was told that a former royal correspondent for a national
newspaper
, who had frequently attacked him in print, had undergone surgery for a serious stomach condition. The former reporter was surprised – and delighted – when a large and very expensive bunch of his
favourite
flowers were delivered to his home, along with a
handwritten note from his old adversary wishing him well. It was a generous and thoughtful gesture that was entirely spontaneous, and, on his orders, carried out without any publicity.

The Duchess of Cornwall is not as universally liked as her husband, but her small personal staff is loyal and will not hear a word said against her. Even if privately some of them may have reservations.

The attention to detail the Royals insist upon is remarkable in this day and age. For instance, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, likes to smoke, so footmen at all the homes she shares with Prince Charles are instructed to place silver cigarette boxes containing her favourite brand in every room, and also to make sure that matchbox holders in solid silver
containers
are placed upright near at hand with one match half withdrawn so she does not have to scrabble about looking for a light. The moment she leaves a room – even if it just for a few minutes – a footman makes sure the ashtrays are emptied, ready for her return. Her cigarette bill is said to come to over £100 a week. It’s the only extravagance Prince Charles is believed to object to regarding his wife’s expenses. A lifelong opponent of smoking, the Prince has tried to persuade her to give up, without success. But at least she has cut down in recent years. The Duchess never smokes at Buckingham Palace, where there is a strict no-smoking policy.

If there is one aspect of working for the Prince of Wales and his wife that the domestic staff do not enjoy it is that they have to spend part of their time at Highgrove House on the outskirts of the pleasant if sleepy market town of Tetbury. The Prince always likes to claim he is not a city person and much prefers to live in the country. The staff prefer the bright lights of London. When they are off-duty at Highgrove, the only entertainment they can find is in one of the local pubs. Tetbury is the sort of town where everything closes down at eleven. Highgrove is a nine-bedroomed Georgian mansion, which was bought for the Prince by his Duchy of Cornwall. When it was first bought, the estate comprised of 350 acres and it has since been extended considerably. It belonged to the late Maurice Macmillan, son of the former Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, later Earl of Stockton, for the bargain price of £800,000. Today it is estimated to be worth well over £10 million, partly of course because of its royal provenance. The presence of royalty has been reflected in property prices in the area, with at least a couple of zeros being added to selling prices since the Prince of Wales moved in.

In addition to the nine principal bedrooms at Highgrove, there are six bathrooms, four elegant reception rooms and a swimming pool, plus one other unusual feature for an English country house: a steel-lined room, which is said to be impregnable in the event of attack by terrorists. It is on the first floor and though constructed of steel it is called by the Household the Iron Room. It is tiny, just 20ft x 20ft, and has been so built that even if the rest of the house
is destroyed, it will drop intact to the ground floor. Inside are medical supplies, including containers of Charles and Camilla’s blood group, long-lasting food and drinks, an armoury, radio transmitters equipped to obtain a signal even within its steel walls, air
purifiers
and chemical lavatories. The royal couple could, if necessary, survive for weeks – even if it might be a little cramped.

The Iron Room is one part of Highgrove that is not shown to visitors.

The garden is Prince Charles’s pride and joy and he takes immense pleasure in showing groups of fellow enthusiasts his plants, shrubs and flowers. There is also a Home Farm where his now-famous Duchy Originals are grown and which add considerably to the Duchy’s profits.

Prince Charles’s brothers, Andrew and Edward, do not enjoy anywhere as lavish a lifestyle, but they do not stint themselves in any way.

Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, is the second highest paid member of the Royal Family, receiving £249,000 a year for his official expenses. He inherited the lease of Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, from his
grandmother
, the late Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. The house lies halfway between Windsor Castle and Virginia Water, towards the eastern side of Windsor Great Park. The Queen Mother died in 2002 and Andrew took over the lease from the Crown Estates in
2004 after spending more than £7.5 million on
renovations
for the thirty-room Grade II-listed property, which included building a brand new indoor
swimming
pool. The rent for the house and forty-hectare grounds is a little over £15,000 a year – or £250 a week, which Andrew was perfectly able to afford, having sold his nearby house Sunninghill Park (which is said to be now in ruins) for a reported £15 million, some £3 million over the original asking price. Added to which he receives a Royal Navy pension of approximately £17,000 a year plus £249,000 a year from the Civil List, which, in fairness, is not a salary, but which goes towards the expenditure on his public duties.

It was in 1931 that the then Duke of York, second son of King George V, asked his father if he and his wife could have the house and they were given the lease as a ‘Grace and Favour’ home. The Duchess (later The Queen Mother) loved the place so much that when her husband (as King George VI) died in 1952, she continued to use the property at weekends for the rest of her life.

The house has unusual proportions, being
dominated
by the Saloon, which is forty-eight feet long, twenty-nine feet wide and twenty feet high, entirely suitable for the sort of parties that the present Duke of York likes to throw when his guests include a number of fabulously wealthy Middle-Eastern friends. The décor that His Royal Highness favours also reflects some of the tastes of his friends, though his servants, who privately are appalled, do not share it.