15 Rules The Royal Staff Must Follow

It's no secret that everyone is basically totally enamored with the royal family. When Kate Middleton and Prince William got married, it was a global obsession and that hasn't let up now that they're raising some seriously adorable children. Now that Prince Harry is engaged to Megan Markle, the royal family has been in the spotlight once again since everyone is speculating about what their life will be like.

We've probably heard that there are a lot of rules that the royal family has to follow. They have to follow long-held traditions about what to say and how to act in public and there are even rules about their travel and even about what they should wear. We always see them wearing colorful suits and wild hats, and we might think that's just their fashion sense, but those are time-honored rules that they can't stray from. It's definitely a lot to think about, but that's their life and so maybe they're totally used to it. What do us commoners know?! Since the royal family definitely has a long list of rules that they have to follow, it only makes sense that the people who work for them have to toe the line, too. There are definitely some pretty interesting things that the royal staff has to keep in mind. Read on to find out 15 rules that the royal staff has to follow! Some of them are pretty surprising for sure.

15 The Royal Staff Feel They Need To Compete With One Another In Order To Be Noticed

This might be a rumor but it makes sense that if there are so many people working for the royal family, they would feel like they have to compete with each other. As the general idea goes, everyone on the royal staff is constantly jockeying for position.

Some people have higher positions than others, of course, and apparently, some people feel like they should have more power or responsibility than they do.

Maybe this is actually a good thing since it fosters a strong work ethic and makes the staff work even harder and do an even better job. Either way, this honestly makes working for the royal family sound like any other job, since we've all competed with at least one person in our working life.

14 You Get Little To No Social Life And Can't Speak About The Job Outside The Job

People say that you're literally just a servant and you don't have time for your own life.

You live in the palace, for the most part, depending on what your job or position is, but you don't have a say and you definitely can't decide where you live.

Sure, people probably say that working for the royal family is a total honor and they really wouldn't want to have a more normal, conventional life. Maybe that's what even draws them to that position in the first place. But… it does sound kind of rough. It must suck to never have much of a social life and feel like you're working all the time and like you're part of this strict world full of rules. There definitely isn't work/life balance.

13 Your Job Could Literally Be Polishing Paintings And Make Little To No Money

There's a job posting going around for someone to polish the queen's "historic vases and irreplaceable paintings." Whoever got this job would work at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh. What would the commitment be?

This person would work a five-day week for 20 hours total, and they would on be paid $10,500 a year.

Yeah, that definitely doesn't seem like a very big salary… but it's a part-time job so maybe that's why. Actually, it's still a pretty low salary for something part-time. We have to say it sounds a bit much to have one person polish paintings and that's all that they do. We wonder if they would be able to be promoted and take on other responsibilities or if this would be all they could do.

12 Nannies Have To Come Up With Activities And Outings For The Family

If we've ever wondered what it would be like to work as the royal nanny, now we know that there are a lot of things that this person has to deal with. Sure, the nanny does all the regular things like taking the kids out to do fun things in the city, and they eat with them and talk to them about the world.

But the royal nanny also has to do something else: talk to Kate and William on a regular basis about ways that the family can hang out together. Yes. Really. This doesn't seem like something that a regular nanny does. Why would the nanny be involved in this discussion? Wouldn't the parents just do that on their own? It's kind of confusing… but, hey, we're not royals. We're just regular folk here.

11 Nannies Are Responsible For Keeping The Privacy Of The Children From The Public

Sure, being a royal nanny is pretty much like being a nanny for a celebrity since they're dealing with paparazzi and all that.

Since privacy is something that nannies for the royal family have to think about, it seems like part of their daily life is figuring out how to keep the children private and away from anyone taking photos of them when they're out and about.

Yeah, that might be logical and they probably have no problem doing that. It's just part of the job. But at the same time, it seems like a ton of responsibility. What if strangers do end up taking photos of the children? Would the nanny get in trouble? It wouldn't be their fault though, would it? Don't these things just happen?

10 Nannies Have To Watch The Kids, But Also Walk To The Dogs At The Same Time

The nanny for the royal family also has to walk the dog. It honestly seems like yet another thing on their very long to-do list… and it seems like maybe not the best thing for them to do.

After all, if the nanny's priority is looking after the children, shouldn't they only do that?

Why would they have to walk the dog, too? Can't someone else walk the dog? Couldn't they hire someone who only did that?

Or what if someone had a job that involved walking the dog along with some other responsibilities? Okay, so we get that no one's going to listen to us. We're just saying that would seem to make sense. Of course, that's not going to happen and they're not going to change what their staff does. It's just an idea.

9 Staff Used To Lie About Dinnertime Because The Queen Is Notoriously Late

Darren McGrady was the private chef for the royal family between 1982 and 1993. He worked for Prince Philip, Her Majesty the Queen, William and Harry, Diana, and the Queen Mother. He shared this tidbit in an interview, proving that the staff would lie about the time that dinner was:

"Dinner was at 8.30 in Balmoral when Her Majesty the Queen Mother was in attendance. They used to tell her that dinner was at 8.15, and she'd be the last one down. They told everyone else 8.30 because they knew she'd be late."

This is definitely an entertaining and interesting thing to know, and it just proves that the royal staff has to do what they're told. Even if they want to tell everyone the same time to go down for dinner, for instance, they can't. They have to listen and do what the family wants.

8 The Hairstylist Must Be Around 24/7, No Matter What The Circumstance Is

Of course, Kate needs someone who can do her hair no matter what's going on or where she's going.

It does seem a bit excessive that the hairstylist for the royal family fixed Kate's hair once when she was on top of a mountain (for the photo op, naturally) and also after she gave birth.

Okay, that last one is a bit confusing… and it doesn't seem necessary. Why would Kate's hair need to look perfect after she gave birth? Of course, she looks beautiful all the time. It just seems like a lot of pressure to look flawless all the time, even after the miracle of childbirth. It seems like this should have been a more private moment… but maybe that just doesn't exist in the royal family.

7 The Staff Can't Hear The Queen Using The Bathroom

According to a story on Jezebel.com, the Queen doesn't want people to hear her when she uses the washroom, so, therefore, that seems to suggest that the staff isn't supposed to hear her pee. And we thought that bodily functions weren't a very royal thing to think or talk about…

This is admittedly a pretty funny thing to learn since, let's face it, none of us really like having anyone hear us pee. That's one of the worst things about public bathrooms (the other one is whether or not they're clean, of course). We just don't want strangers to hear our business. It's definitely a strict rule to follow if it's true, though, since what if one of the staff members hears her pee accidentally?! It seems like this could get awkward and fast.

6 The Chef Makes The Dog Its Own Food

According to an interview that he did with The Telegraph, the royal family's private chef in the early 90's actually made dog food. As in the dog got special food that was homemade instead of something out of a bag or box.

Owen said,

“I simmered rabbit, cooked down some chicken, then finely chopped the meat, sieved the stock and returned the meat… It was the corgis' dog food.”

Hey, the royal dogs can't just eat any food. They definitely need something homemade and gourmet. We have to admit that this is pretty adorable and it's for sure a fun fact to hear. It just seems like the royal chef has to make a lot of food all the time. That must be a pretty exhausting job.

5 The Kitchen Hasn't Been Updated And The Cooks Have To Work With Ancient Equipment

Yup, this is true: they use the exact same pots and pans that Queen Victoria used. We have to wonder if the royal chefs and kitchen staff have asked to replace the stuff in the kitchen with some newer versions? We can only guess that over the years, a lot of the kitchen staff have asked that for sure, and they were always told no.

Why do we think that this is the case? Maybe it's a sentimental thing since these pots have always been in the royal family. So it could be based on tradition or something like that. And we totally get that… but it still seems like a pretty strict thing to follow. Why would buying new stuff for the kitchen be a big deal?

4 They Have To Be Okay With Super Low Salaries, No Matter What Position They're In

We have to wonder if the royal staff ever asks for a raise. If they did, they might be told no… or at least that's what we can gather from the fact that the salaries of these positions seem to be super low.

We would expect anyone working for the royal family to make a ton of dough. That seems like a pretty reasonable assumption to make. Instead,

some jobs pay $20,000-$30,000, and there doesn't seem to be any room for negotiation based on experience.

This is kind of baffling and confusing to be totally honest since these seem like really big jobs with a lot of responsibility. They seem like jobs that require a lot of money, but instead, the salaries are just not what we would think that they would be.

3 Nannies Actually Get Formal Training, And The Process Can Be Very Taxing

Yup, you have to go to school if you want to be a nanny for the royal family. You'll have to go to a place called Norland College, which has been training nannies for decades now.

As Reader's Digest reported, the program is three years total. What do you get when you're finished? That would be a B.A. in early years development and learning. The school is affiliated with the University of Gloucestershire. If anyone is dreaming of being a nanny for the royal family, then they should be prepared to study for three whole years and learn more than they probably ever thought was necessary or relevant. It sounds like there are a whole bunch of rules to follow that you learn about in that program.

2 You Can't Be "Seen Or Heard"

We've all heard the traditional English saying "children must be seen but not heard." It's basically the idea that the best way to bring up kids is to allow them to be in the room with grown-ups… but they just can't say anything. That would be too invasive and would interrupt the adults way too much. Yeah, it's kind of harsh.

Apparently one of the things that the royal staff has to keep in mind is that they can't be seen or heard. In other words,

they have to fade into the background and make sure that they're not being too disturbing or distracting.

While that does make sense since it's not like they should sing loudly or blast music or something crazy like that, it does kind of suck to think about working for someone and basically being invisible. Or at least that's what it sounds like.

1 Nannies Learn To Fold Cloth Diapers, Which Isn't As Simple As It Sounds

Here's another rule that nannies for the royal family have to follow: they have to fold cloth diapers. Not paper ones (or whatever material regular diapers are made out of). Cloth ones. Yes. Really.

This seems super old-fashioned and unnecessary, and it also seems really strict since, let's face it, this is a really specific thing to have to learn. Do babies even wear cloth diapers anymore? Do the royal babies wear them and so that's why this rule was put in place? Or is this just a just-in-case type of thing and it's a rule even though the nannies don't actually have to deal with cloth diapers? We have so many questions because it's all just very confusing. Sigh. And we thought that we knew all there was to know about royal life.