King Charles Faces Backlash After 11 of His 12 Gardeners Quit Over Low Wages and Demands: Report
- - - King Charles Faces Backlash After 11 of His 12 Gardeners Quit Over Low Wages and Demands: Report
Simon PerryJuly 22, 2025 at 12:09 AM
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The future King Charles poses at Highgrove House on May 13, 2019
King Charles has become embroiled in a dispute involving the gardeners at his beloved Highgrove House
The King devolved management and ownership of the gardens to the King's Foundation charity shortly before he acceded to the throne
The Sunday Times claimed that low morale and low pay have fueled the departures of many staff in recent years
King Charles is a passionate green-thumbed enthusiast who has a vision for the secluded and beloved garden at one of his country homes, but those demands and claims of low pay have been blamed for fueling a series of departures of staff in recent years.
Since March 2022, 11 out of the 12-strong team of gardeners have departed from the team working on the gardens at the royal residence of Highgrove House, The Sunday Times claimed on July 20. Half of them were earning the minimum wage for the U.K., the paper’s investigation said.
Charles devolved management and ownership of the gardens, which welcome around 40,000 visitors a year, to the King’s Foundation in 2021. The King still occupies the main Highgrove House, which he moved into in 1980 ahead of his wedding to the then-Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. Their sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, grew up there and enjoyed the delights of the garden, including the treehouse, now an attraction for William’s children.
King Charles, 76, finds the gardens to be a refuge, and he has a specially-constructed sanctuary that he heads to for spiritual tranquility and recently held the first Harmony Summit in which he joined indigenous people and environmentalists (and a film crew from an upcoming Amazon Prime documentary) in seeking communion with nature, the BBC reported.
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Highgrove House photographed on Nov. 1, 2007
Workers on the estate have told PEOPLE that King Charles is often seen in the house’s gardens by some of the thousands of visitors who take the tour each year. But his keen eye for details and exacting standards have seen him sometimes leaving detailed memos and notes giving his feedback about plants or horticultural matters that some workers are said to have found overwhelming, The Sunday Times said.
One member of staff is reported to have filed a grievance against management, saying they were “under-resourced and constantly struggling to fulfill the King’s request,” The Sunday Times reported. The complaint said staff “developed physical injuries trying to keep up, and that the team suffered from low morale.” When one gardener reportedly failed his probation after “revealing a lack of knowledge about a particular flower,” Charles is said to have uttered: “Don’t put that man in front of me again,” The Sunday Times said.
The King’s Foundation brought in a specialist human resources consultancy, and it upheld claims about staff shortages, inadequate management practices and low pay, leading to difficulties in retention, it was reported.
A King’s Foundation spokesperson told PEOPLE in a statement, “At The King’s Foundation, we take staff welfare extremely seriously and strive to be an exemplary employer. We are proud to regularly report very high satisfaction rates in our annual staff survey.”
“Our staff turnover is well below the national average, as is the number of formal grievances raised. For the gardening team at Highgrove specifically, we regularly review guidance from the Professional Gardeners Guild for pay benchmarking.”
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Highgrove House photographed on May 7, 2024
The statement went on, “Highgrove has also seen many positive developments since The King’s Foundation became the charitable custodian of the gardens. Since 2022, the operating profit has more than doubled, a new education facility teaching traditional heritage skills to hundreds of students has been established, and visitor numbers continue to reach over 40,000 annually.”
Those close to King Charles’ foundation say that staffers have received pay rises each year since 2022, adding up to between 15% and 19%, in line with national averages. Recognizing that visitors enjoy seeing or sensing that Charles has had a personal and deep influence on the gardens, that he has helped develop over more than four decades. Deemed by those close to him as a visionary, they say Trustees of the foundation welcome his input and believe it is reasonable for him to add his input and suggestions for improvements in presentation or management.
When PEOPLE visited in summer 2024, Gráinne Ring, the head gardener who leads a team of 15, including apprentices that the King is encouraging, said, "I see my job as a facilitator of the garden, a facilitator of what His Majesty wants. He has been a gardener longer than me! I can choose the bulbs, but he will choose the color schemes. It’s really about working together."
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In recent years, Highgrove’s gardens have broadened to include educational courses in craft skills, including the Metier d’Arts Fellowship and furniture making.
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