Gardeners are leaving their jobs in the gardens of British King Charles III at the royal residence “Highgrove“, reported DPA and PA Media, quoted by BTA.
The gardeners complain about the low pay and the high demands of the monarch.
The gardens are located in Gloucestershire. Since 2022, 11 out of 12 gardeners have left there.
Charles III regularly visits the gardens and, after walking around them and inspecting them, instructs the staff what to do in them before his next visit. He was disappointed when some of his regulations were not implemented as he wanted. For example, the gardeners could not grow delphiniums, which disappointed him greatly.
The gardeners at "Highgrove" complained about poor working conditions, including low pay, which was close to the minimum wage in the country.
According to information in the British media, Charles III was informed that there was now a shortage of staff in the gardens and suggested that refugees from Ukraine be hired to help there.
It was expected that the estate with the gardens at "Highgrove", which has nine bedrooms, would be made available to the heir to the throne, Prince William and his wife Kate, when they became Dukes of Cornwall in September 2022. But Charles III continued to use the property. For this purpose, he leased it from the Duchy of Cornwall for the sum of 340,000 pounds per year.
Charles III also spent time at the estate after being hospitalized for side effects of his cancer treatment earlier this year.
The Charles III Foundation organizes educational visits to the estate's gardens. The gardens can also be visited with a guided tour ticket. They attract 40,000 visitors annually.
In 2023, a member of the gardens' staff complained that the staff were understaffed and overworked. The Charles III Foundation then commissioned an external inspection, which found staff shortages and poor management practices. The inspection also found that pay was a problem in recruiting and retaining new staff. The investigators also made recommendations, including providing mental health support for staff and reviewing salaries.
A spokeswoman for the Charles III Foundation Charles III said that "staff health is taken very seriously and we aim to be an exemplary employer. We are proud to consistently report very high levels of satisfaction in our annual staff survey. Our staff turnover is well below the national average, as are the number of formal complaints. Specifically for the gardening team at “Highgrove“ we regularly review the Guild of Professional Gardeners' guidelines for pay benchmarking“.