Queen Elizabeth’s Servants Are Tested This Ghastly Way Before Getting Hired

Queen Elizabeth and the rest of the royal family definitely need servants to keep the palaces clean and organized. They are the British royals, so they require the best housekeeping team they can get. However, it has been disclosed that becoming part of the royal household staff is not that easy.

In a documentary that aired on Channel 5 titled “Secrets Of the Royal Servants,” it was revealed how the royal family hires people to be their housekeepers and aides. The hiring process was unbelievable as the royal family has to literally pluck the best applicants for what can be considered as prestigious positions in the palaces.

In fact, it was reported that despite the meager pay package, many still want to work for Queen Elizabeth and the royal family. Hordes of applicants are still expected to apply for any housekeeping vacancies because people find it very appealing to work for the world-famous family.

“There are plenty of people out there prepared to take a whopping pay cut for the pleasure of cutting the grass and cleaning up for royalty in the hope that one day they might just get blessed with a smile from Her Majesty,” Tom Sykes of The Daily Beast wrote. “Pay-wise, the royals are merely continuing a long tradition — historically speaking, the less they have paid their servants.”

It was learned that Her Majesty is not the one directly hiring the housekeepers and butlers. This work is being handled by the Royal Household office and employment agencies, and there are people who are assigned to do the job.

In the documentary, it was also mentioned that the Palace's recruitment group has trainers for prospective household staff who will serve the Queen. The applicants need to pass the royal standards, so a test is prepared by royal housekeeping trainer Tracy Waterman. She checks the shortlisted candidate's attention to detail, but her method of doing this is quite bizarre.

“The difference between housekeeper in a five-star hotel and in a royal Palace would be attention to detail,” Express quoted her as saying in the documentary. “Somebody working in the Palace would be trained to look at the unusual.”

Waterman revealed that one of the tests that she likes to do to assess the applicant's thoroughness and accuracy when accomplishing a task is to put a dead fly either in the fireplace or on the carpet. The applicant is then led to the room and allowed to look around. She must be able to see the dead fly and pick it up.

If the applicant did as expected, she would then be chosen as the right candidate for the job. The recruitment process may take a week, a month or several months, but Waterman said that most of the applicants eagerly wait for the results since it's their chance to work for Queen Elizabeth and the other royals.