Courtiers by Valentine Low: Charles bullying staff

[Bambala]

I am listening to this as I clean today. I had no idea how awful Charles was to his staff - throwing things at them, taking out his ‘explosive anger’ on them. I am fascinated to find out what he thinks of William and Harry but that might have to wait for tomorrow’s cleanathon. Anyone else read or listened and been surprised by Charles’ bullying of staff?

Not at all surprised. There have been leaks about this before.

I feel like his problems in love are almost forgivable, none of us have an easy time finding a partner, but surely we can’t accept a king who throws things at his staff. Imagine if William or Harry or Kate or Meghan did that! Being of a different generation is no excuse.

Well, we've all seen the pen incident..

I was very surprised to learn how well staffed Highgrove is, a life of utter ease, every whim is catered for.

A thyme garden & ‘hedge experts’, apparently a lot of ‘expertise’ not compensated, the privilege is to supply the Royals.

Been doing a lot of background reading lately & Pasternak (Princess in Love) cites PC wanted to swap one of his watercolours for a Lucian Freud Oil. (Freud apparently laughed & said ‘no’).

The Daily Mail don’t seem to compare how many private secretaries he ‘lost’ in such a short space of time when they are bemoaning Sussexes losing staff.

Forgivable?!?

I’m not sure any woman on MN who had to face a cheating husband and an OW will agree with you.
Why one rule for us and another for the King? The lack of respect he showed towards his wife is the same.

Of course not @Bambala

I remember one U.K. the secretaries the Sussex had. When she left she mentioned how awful the atmosphere was between the ‘houses’ (never mind they are parents/children/siblings). She said she’d rather go back being an ambassador in Afghanistan as it was easier .
Not one word about the Sussex themselves being difficult. But the whole dealing with Charles and W&K (and their own secretaries)

@ManyNameChanges wow I bet it takes supreme diplomacy to work in that environment.

I don’t condone his treatment of his wife, not at all. But as an employer, to throw things and verbally abuse your staff - that is horrendous, like something from feudal times.

In his memoir 'A Royal Duty' Paul Burrell describes Charles throwing a book across the library because he was angry that Burrell's household diary had enabled Diana to see when the Parker-Bowles family had visited Highgrove.

I’d read articles before about Charles and his alleged temper. He comes across as a frustrated man who’d rather be doing other things. Maybe it’s kinder all round to abolish the monarchy? This old feudal system traps people into a gilded cage and locks them into meaningless roles. It also seems bizarre that an adult has to be waited on hand and foot and it’s ok to have tantrums when their needs aren’t met.

@Bambala yeah, funny that

His grandfather was very similar, the Queen Mother was renowned for her ability to calm him down (George maybe had more excuse, as he had been catapulted into a position he was not trained for, and at a time of extreme crisis).

Unfortunately, neither of Charles’ wives have that ability, Diana because she was a child who was foisted on him, and Camilla because once he had achieved the apparently impossible of marrying her, he was left in the unenviable position of having nothing left to strive for ( except a happy relationship, of course). Which is why they have separate households.

I'm not at all surprised to learn Charles has been awful to his staff. You only have to watch the way he behaved at the proclamation ceremony to see it's ingrained.

The royals do have form for this though - Andrew has been reported to have been a pig to his staff and then there's the allegations around Harold.

Whatever alleged magic the institution ever held really has gone.

I miss the Queen 😞

I guess that’s where Harry gets his temper and entitlement from - assaulting security staff, making staff cry etc. apple doesn’t fall far from the tree

William is rumoured to be the same.
All the men seem like this - maybe not Edward, no idea?

@Neowulf so where does William get his penchant for physical abuse and aggression? His Mum? Or also from Charles.

The men in the family do seem to have tempers from what you hear. Maybe that’s why Meghan’s bullying inquiry has been kept private, so any accusations against the others don’t surface.

@Bluekerfuffle or might refresh people about the trouble Kate has had with retaining staff too?
www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/kate-middleton-staff-quit-adjusted-23686485

I was unpleasantly surprised by Charles's antics over the malfunction pen.

How spoiled and childish was his behaviour ! 🙄

I am not surprised I have multiple times pointed out the rumors of bullying from Charles when discussing Meghan's bullying report. My question is always the same. What could Meghan have done that was worse than Charles?

What could be worse than having your employer throw stuff at you?

I will probably be reading this book. I still need to finish Spare first. Finally into Part 3. Slow going due to my schedule.

I also still plan to read the book Charles helped with in the 80's.

you’re right, William and Harry prob also inherited the aggression from their mum, she’s pushed her step mum down the stairs and threw herself down the stairs for attention too

To actually push someone down the stairs, an elderly lady to boot, shocking 🤯

It’s interesting, he seems to have a short fuse on one hand and yet we hear he is weak willed and doesn’t like confrontation on the other, if it’s true he has a temper it seems it’s saved for people who can’t fight back.

Don’t forget Harry and his physical aggression to his security officers.