Page 6 | King Charles - disquiet at Highgrove & the gardeners’ exodus - SUNDAY TIMES INVESTIGATION

vera99 · 2025-07-20T05:59:33+00:00

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

jeffgoldblum · 20/07/2025 11:08

ConstitutionHill · 20/07/2025 11:01

Pays people minimum wage remember, and a lot of their time is spent, hand picking greenfly off plants as pesticide is banned. This is the King's entitled nature when the cameras are not rolling. Remember the pen incident?

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The pen incident?
always mentioned without context, I doubt many people who were in mourning for a beloved family member would not feel irritated when handed a leaky pen and expected to sign an official document in front of the media on an uncleared table! 🙄

LasVegass · 20/07/2025 11:08

I’m only surprised he has a swimming pool, for some reason it didn’t occur to me.

TatianaTwinkletoes · 20/07/2025 11:15

How about this scenario? An elderly widow pays 2 gardeners to tidy up, weed, mow the lawn. She has been complaining for some time they aren't doing a proper job, not weeding or pruning to her satisfaction. The consensus from friends and family is 'sack them'.

How does this compare to KC3's position? Or is he just a charity expected to employ anyone regardless of (in)ability?

clarepetal · 20/07/2025 11:22

Huggersunite · 20/07/2025 07:11

If you send a person to boarding school when they are barely out of breeches and if you give them absolutely everything in life on tap it will breed a degree of entitlement. The same entitlement that was revealed in Harry when the media spin dropped off.

They are at their core an emotionally avoidant, emotionally immature family with enormous privilege and a brilliant team working to spin a yarn that ingratiates them or at the very least the idea of them to the masses. However all that said I don’t think they are particularly bad people, just spoilt and not very in touch with reality for everyone else on the ground.

Spot on

PigeonDress · 20/07/2025 11:22

CurlewKate · 20/07/2025 11:03

“The elderly” were definitely expected to be volunteers (expressly stated in the article). Not sure about refugees.

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Were they marched there at gunpoint?

I've volunteered in a walled garden of a former stately home (research/teaching, not gardening). Everyone volunteering there was elderly/retired and/or had long term health/mental health/unemployment issues, and found that working in a community project helped them tremendously with this, and/or had a love of research and history. What exactly is the problem with this?

Cardemomle · 20/07/2025 11:23

No, I can't work out what's wrong with giving work and/or opportunities for refugees and the elderly either.

PigeonDress · 20/07/2025 11:23

ConstitutionHill · 20/07/2025 11:01

Pays people minimum wage remember, and a lot of their time is spent, hand picking greenfly off plants as pesticide is banned. This is the King's entitled nature when the cameras are not rolling. Remember the pen incident?

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What level of wage do you think is commensurate with the skill set of these people?

CurlewKate · 20/07/2025 11:26

TatianaTwinkletoes · 20/07/2025 11:15

How about this scenario? An elderly widow pays 2 gardeners to tidy up, weed, mow the lawn. She has been complaining for some time they aren't doing a proper job, not weeding or pruning to her satisfaction. The consensus from friends and family is 'sack them'.

How does this compare to KC3's position? Or is he just a charity expected to employ anyone regardless of (in)ability?

If said elderly widow was the head of a multi million pound business, I would expect her to pay decent wages and have proper HR practices. Absolutely fine to sack people who don’t do their job properly but there are procedures.

PigeonDress · 20/07/2025 11:27

jeffgoldblum · 20/07/2025 11:08

The pen incident?
always mentioned without context, I doubt many people who were in mourning for a beloved family member would not feel irritated when handed a leaky pen and expected to sign an official document in front of the media on an uncleared table! 🙄

Show quote history

It's always the same, lame anecdote, isn't it? Grieving man who probably hasn't slept for days, taking up the most important job of his life in his 70s in full view of the world's cameras. Gets grumpy over a leaking pen, which his employees should have checked in the first place, because that's their bloody job, to ensure everything goes smoothly for their employer.

PigeonDress · 20/07/2025 11:28

CurlewKate · 20/07/2025 11:26

If said elderly widow was the head of a multi million pound business, I would expect her to pay decent wages and have proper HR practices. Absolutely fine to sack people who don’t do their job properly but there are procedures.

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You still haven't said what procedures were not followed.

jeffgoldblum · 20/07/2025 11:44

PigeonDress · 20/07/2025 11:27

It's always the same, lame anecdote, isn't it? Grieving man who probably hasn't slept for days, taking up the most important job of his life in his 70s in full view of the world's cameras. Gets grumpy over a leaking pen, which his employees should have checked in the first place, because that's their bloody job, to ensure everything goes smoothly for their employer.

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Yes , it’s very irritating isn’t it!
let’s be honest here , I’m sure the members of the royal family get irritated, angry and annoyed by things … because they are …. Drumroll…. Human beings, exactly the same as the rest of us! 🙄.
quite why this accusation is thrown around by posters ( who actually display the same emotions) as some sort of gotcha is just bizarre, and as for the constant reappearance and subsequent misinformation about an illegally recorded conversation!
well I thought most of us were against the press using these shady practices and invading peoples privacy!

milveycrohn · 20/07/2025 11:44

Highgrove is Charles' personal and private estate and not paid by the state.
Yes, they are also landowners in the tradiitional sense, which is separate from the crown estates, and they are certainly not the richest landowner around.
So, why care about the gardeners at Highgrove.
If you are one of the garderners and you dont like the pay and conditions, then find somewhere better.
Frankly, I don't really care.
If they were not doing their work properly, then I expect normal HR procedures to be followed, and their is no evidence they were not. I expect as there are several garderners, there will be a 'Head Garderner', and everyone else will be under his jurisdiction.

CurlewKate · 20/07/2025 12:06

PigeonDress · 20/07/2025 11:27

It's always the same, lame anecdote, isn't it? Grieving man who probably hasn't slept for days, taking up the most important job of his life in his 70s in full view of the world's cameras. Gets grumpy over a leaking pen, which his employees should have checked in the first place, because that's their bloody job, to ensure everything goes smoothly for their employer.

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To be fair-a grieving man who has been in training for 70 years to preserve the “optics” of the monarchy…Getting grumpy over a leaking pen-perfectly understandable. Getting vocally and publicly grumpy, less so….

PigeonDress · 20/07/2025 12:10

CurlewKate · 20/07/2025 12:06

To be fair-a grieving man who has been in training for 70 years to preserve the “optics” of the monarchy…Getting grumpy over a leaking pen-perfectly understandable. Getting vocally and publicly grumpy, less so….

Edited

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Well there we are, he did. It's only a big deal to republicans. The rest of us are humans who can understand grief, fear and exhaustion.

Ready to tell us what employment laws have been violated?

OneSharpFinch · 20/07/2025 12:43

Its not strictly true that KC pays out of his private income for his gardeners, it's actually run by a charity the kings foundation.

Tontostitis · 20/07/2025 12:49

Not obvious to most people. Charles comes across really well, has a close clearly loving relationship with his family, and polls really highly

Tontostitis · 20/07/2025 12:51

I love the way these threads go. Nasty spiteful posts getting politely exposed. I used why MN let them stand but actually the daylight always pays off.

ajandjjmum · 20/07/2025 13:00

vera99 · 20/07/2025 07:55

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.

Not what those who work for him say. It's a shame that some of us don't have the humanity to understand that maybe the leaking pen was the straw that broke the camel's back, when he was having to deal with the death of his beloved mother and taking on the massive immediate workload of the monarch, over a matter of days.

Personally I would think less of those that rush to judgement, rather than a recently bereaved person who is taking over major responsibility.

MaxandMeg · 20/07/2025 13:19

Pubgarden · 20/07/2025 09:47

I have no feelings either way about the royal family.

Here to put in my experience as an RHS trained gardener.
When gardeners are studying or starting out they often will take low paid work to get experience especially in respected gardens. Often these type of gardens have hugely talented head gardeners (thinking Fergus Garrett at Great Dixter). Students come from all over the world to work for him for bed, board and peanuts. It's a career setting move. Highgrove would be in that category.

It's never the intention that anyone would stay in that job at that level of pay for longer than necessary. Turnover is very high.

Experienced, qualified gardeners know their worth and are in high demand. Nobody need work for the minimum wage. Far from it.

I know Highgrove Garden. It's lovely, but not pristine. There are weeds everywhere, empty spaces, plants that have gone over.......it's not the work of a meglomaniac micro manager - it's an ordinary coming and going garden just on a grand scale. The ragwort issue is a different matter and the point raised by a PP absolutely right. No responsible gardener in agricultural country would allow ragwort to stand and seed itself around. If it was Japanese Knot Weed people would have understood the need to remove it instantly.

Highgrove is a massive tourist attraction under intense security. Armed guards on every gate and in the grounds. Gardeners are generally quiet folk with a laid back, laissez faire attitude....you can see why Highgrove might not appeal or be sustainable for them with it's thousands of visitors, cameras and guns.

The Times is behind a paywall that I can't be arsed with.

If I had to garden for Murdoch or Charles, I'd choose Charles.

This absolutely. I have a large garden open to the public that has to be kept up to a certain standard (I don't employ a full-time gardener). I am also only a couple of months apart from Charles agewise. I'm increasingly aware of the preciousness of enjoying each year, each flowering of favourite plants. It's a souce of deep joy. The delphiniums fail and that's it for this year. How many more years do I have to enjoy them?

There are very few training schemes for the sort of gardeners Charles (or I) need. It's a curious blend of detailed academic knowledge, historical context, and hand-on graft. The relationship between a passionate and knowledgeable garden-owner and his head gardener is akin to a marriage - the intense bond and occasional spats between Christopher Lloyd and Fergus Garret is a prime example of this symbiosis. It has to be right and if it is, then gardening becomes an art form.

Gardeners aren't paid enough but that's the case across the board. It's not a highly paid profession, I'm afraid. And I'm sure Charles is irritable and difficult to please (as am I!) because the garden matters to him - it's an absolute passion. So I'm 85% Team Charles on this one, and 100% with him on the ragwort. It's a non-story.

Hotflushesandchilblains · 20/07/2025 13:26

Why would someone so rich be looking for volunteer labour to keep up his gardens? Or draft in refugees? Beggars belief. And to have anyone on minimum wage is unconscionable if it is true.

Original poster

vera99 · 20/07/2025 14:04

PigeonDress · 20/07/2025 11:27

It's always the same, lame anecdote, isn't it? Grieving man who probably hasn't slept for days, taking up the most important job of his life in his 70s in full view of the world's cameras. Gets grumpy over a leaking pen, which his employees should have checked in the first place, because that's their bloody job, to ensure everything goes smoothly for their employer.

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Somehow his late mum got through a long reign without throwing her toys out of the pram.. Trust people when they show you who they are as that's who they are. I'm in a nice garden with nice people and not a stray ragwort on sight and even if there was so what. Common people are the best as Jarvis Cocker aptly said and some people are still running the world!

OP posts:

Original poster

vera99 · 20/07/2025 14:11

PigeonDress · 20/07/2025 10:41

What is stopping them working somewhere else that pays more?

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King in race to the bottom shock with intemperate plant recognition based rage.

OP posts:

PigeonDress · 20/07/2025 14:12

Hotflushesandchilblains · 20/07/2025 13:26

Why would someone so rich be looking for volunteer labour to keep up his gardens? Or draft in refugees? Beggars belief. And to have anyone on minimum wage is unconscionable if it is true.

The garden is run by the King's Foundation, a charity. The charity is the employer. Are volunteers herded there by gunpoint? What exactly do you have against refugees being given a job?

smilesy · 20/07/2025 14:15

vera99 · 20/07/2025 14:04

Somehow his late mum got through a long reign without throwing her toys out of the pram.. Trust people when they show you who they are as that's who they are. I'm in a nice garden with nice people and not a stray ragwort on sight and even if there was so what. Common people are the best as Jarvis Cocker aptly said and some people are still running the world!

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Oh give over. He isn’t the same person his mum was. He is quicker to show emotion, both good and bad. That doesn’t mean he’s a big purple meanie. Just human. His mum, bless her, was from an era when you always had a stiff upper lip. And didn’t she get flack for not showing “enough” emotion when Diana died? The pen incident was an entirely understandable show of irritation from someone in a stressful situation. It doesn’t show us “who he really is”. You are just projecting your self admitted bias 😊

Maggispice · 20/07/2025 14:16

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/704bfdd154c311da
Wow! I thought Meg was the bullying for sending emails early in the morning.
Can't say much for a man who allows his children's step mother separate them to keep the "valuable" one close. Diana was disposed off after she gave two heirs, Harry disposed of after William had spares. That's all that matters. Charles and his lineage to be on the throne.