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52 bedrooms; 78 bathrooms; 39 acres of landscaped gardens; a grand collection of offices… and, naturally, the most famous balcony in the world. It is Buckingham Palace, and apart from, perhaps, the White House across the Atlantic, it is the most famous home in the world.
Yet- as one might imagine- actually living in it might not be the world’s most fun experience.
Forget a childhood that reflects the joyful chaos of height marks on walls, muddy football shoes strewn across the hall, and Barbie dolls appearing propped up in fruit bowls; as one royal insider confirmed to The Times: “It’s the office. It’s not really a home.”
READ MORE: Brilliant but scary forgotten photos show Prince Charles and Camilla almost getting wiped out by a bald eagle
It seems like a pretty chilly residency too. According to this same insider, heavy rain would see staff running about with buckets to place under leaking ceilings. And as for the winter months? The Queen would advise visitors and guests to put on a jumper. That doesn’t mean it isn’t necessarily a fun place to work, however.
The large indoor swimming pool, for example, is particularly precious to the Royal Family; it is reportedly where Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte learned how to swim. Yet it is open to the staff too, as is the cinema room, which is said to be mainly used by the Palace’s staff. They even find themselves often watching films before they’re released in cinemas, which makes a job at the SW1A Palace quite the attraction to film nuts.
The Palace also has its own GP surgery, post office, and even an ATM – relevant, for many of the staff live in the Palace full time.
According to The Mirror’s Ryan Parry, who worked undercover as a footman to discover what life was like as a member of the Palace’s staff, the basic room for staff appears more university halls than The Crown, including a bed, desk, sink and wardrobe, with the staff sharing communal bathrooms. The process to work at Buckingham Palace is, in what will be a surprise to no one, a lengthy and meticulous process.
A job listing for the role of a full-time butler in an agency “led me to eventually meeting the Prince of Wales at an interview after a lengthy three-month or more process,” previous butler to Prince Charles and Camilla, Grant Harrold, told Town & Country in 2019. Grant, who left the job in 2014, now runs etiquette courses for butlers.
“I remember being nervous when I met the Prince of Wales [for the job interview], and he somehow managed to take the nerves away as we had afternoon tea and simply spoke to each other,” Harrold concluded. Jolly good, as they say.
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