King Charles - disquiet at Highgrove & the gardeners’ exodus - SUNDAY TIMES INVESTIGATION

[vera99]

Murdoch is growing bolder in his dotage — first with Trump, and now with another bombshell investigation into the grasping, stagnant, and catastrophically out-of-touch Windsors. And yet we keep pumping more public money into this so-called dysfunctional family.

What you need to know

King’s demands, staff shortages and low pay led to gardener exodus at Highgrove

Royal charity which runs gardens told to offer mental health support after formal investigation

Charles has lost 11 of 12 garden staff since 2022 including two head gardeners who quit within a year

Monarch said of one worker: “Do not put that man in front of me again”

After Ukraine invasion King proposed plugging staff shortages with war refugees or the elderly

At one point half of staff were on minimum wage

https://archive.ph/fspT3#selection-1495.0-1501.155

I understand his disappointment. There is a season for flowering and mainly it’s early to mid summer and we look forward to it all year. With 12 gardeners you would expect the gardens to look incredible.

He does his own gardening. OK so he gets to cherry-picks the nice jobs, a bit of light dead-heading, some titivating of the dahlia, potting up some seedlings, not the hard graft, but he does have a full time job, so that's to be expected. Why get a dog and bark yourself. People aren't being marched to Highgrove at gun point and order by royal decree to be his gardener.

People with far less wealth employ a gardener to share the heavy lifting, especially if time is at a premium. But because he's the Royal Family, he gets all the flack. The media does it to drum up jealousy and wind people up. People fall for it every time!

Btw ragwort isn’t any old weed. It’s poisonous to livestock and horses and therefore should be removed as a matter of course. Many agricultural tenancies require ragwort to be removed and teams are employed to pull it up from fields to reduce its spread.

They should really. He has spent a lot of time on his garden. To some, that will no doubt be a fault, but that's who he is. They are important to him, and it's been a disappointment.

I'm sure the Times have good sources for their stories and wouldn't print just anything without robust internal procedures.

Exactly, excellent post.

That's a good point. I've visited some beautiful gardens this summer, good gardeners are very much in demand.

Well, perhaps you know more than me about Princess Anne. I find it highly unlikely that she would carelessly gossip about other members of the family to any publication.

Then pay them a decent wage especially if you wish to set an example to the nation in conduct, morality, and leadership and don't bully them either.

It says sources close to the Princess not herself.

Charles not a decent person, look what’s he’s done to his family over 50 yrs. Created clan of unloved mistrustful people … and marries C and callls her queen. What an awful clown he is.

I agree. I pay my gardeners well. However, I would not judge another person unless I had proof of their actions. Rather than gossip. However, you obviously choose to believe it, and create a thread based on this.

Murdoch is a republican and has an agenda.

I pay my gardeners to garden and get rid of weeds otherwise they aren’t doing their job. I pay my cleaner to get rid of cobwebs as well, imo equivalent to weeds.

It’s just another way to poke at the royals.

He didn't "call her queen". That's the title she has as the wife of the King.

I thought this was about gardening, I love the Highgrove Gardens. I can see it's about something else entirely.

This behaviour reflects an upbringing steeped in privilege and entitlement.
We’ve already seen public glimpses of Charles’s irritation and anger when things don't go exactly as he expects. One can only imagine what he’s like behind closed doors. I suspect he’s a deeply unpleasant man to work for.

It's a pity HMK is not subject to similarly stringent performance appraisal, and to being sacked when he falls below the expected standard.

Well, we don't know who these "sources" are. I have already said that I find it unlikely.

I've heard time and time again for many years that the royal household pay their staff poorly.

This is more than mere gossip it’s a well-sourced, significant story published by one of the world’s oldest and most respected newspapers.

Showing your bias there

Ok. I don't consider it to be well sourced and I personally find the editorials of the Times not to be to my taste, but I'm a bit more Guardian/Independent. However, if that's your newspaper of choice, fine.

The posters rushing to defend this spoilt man baby are incredible - why are people so keen to defend a man who has demonstrated repeatedly what an unpleasant individual he is? And it’s not remotely surprising that the royals pay low wages - I would imagine they take the view that the serfs should be incredibly grateful to work for them so no need to pay them well too 🙄.

By all accounts he's lovely but nice try

Well if they create a convenient stick by their own actions I will have a poke so to speak !