Kensignton Palace’s head gardener has revealed 75 per cent of his team has been furloughed amid the coronavirus crisis.
Graham Dillamore, Gardens and Estates Operations Manager at Hampton Court Palace and Kensington Palace, shared the revelation on LinkedIn account this week.
It is not known whether other members of staff at Kensington Palace have been furloughed or if the furloughed employees are being paid through the Government scheme. MailOnline has contacted Kensington Palace for comment.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson confirmed there is no furloughing of Royal Household employees at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, or the Palace of Holyroodhouse and there is none planned.
Graham Dillamore, Gardens & Estates Operations Manager at Hampton Court Palace and Kensington Palace, took to his LinkedIn account to share a behind-the-scenes picture of his team keeping the gardens at the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s London residence in order
The Kingston-based manager shared his can-do attitude, admitting that despite his job being tough while 75 per cent of his team are furloughed, you ‘roll up your sleeves, eat chocolate and go to work’
The situation regarding staffing at the Queen’s private residences, including Balmoral, in Aberdeenshire, and Sandringham, in Norfolk, is not known.
Mr Dillamore shared details of the furloughing of staff alongside a photo showing him and his team at work in the Sunken Gardens of Kensington Palace.
He wrote: ‘Managing a Historic Garden with 75 per cent of your staff on furlough isn’t easy, so what do you do? You roll up your sleeves, find a pair of boots, eat chocolate and go to work. We all did it once and I’m sure we can all put in a proper shift again and lead from the very front.
‘In times of trouble gardeners need close leadership every step of the way ,not working from home or in some remote office.’
In April it was revealed that almost 200 members of staff who work for Prince Charles at The Prince’s Foundation had been furloughed.
In 2017 Graham revealed his memories of working for Princess Diana
However instead of turning to the Government scheme, Prince Charles is using reserves at his charity to pay the salaries of his staff.
His former valet Michael Fawcett, who now runs The Prince’s Foundation, is understood to have taken a significant cut to his six-figure salary to ‘lead by example’.
A source at the charity, which has an annual wage bill of around £4.5 million, told the Mail On Sunday that with all visitor attractions closed, 197 members of staff had been furloughed.
They include workers at its headquarters in Dumfries House in Ayrshire and at the Castle of Mey in Caithness, which was the late Queen Mother’s private residence.
Employees at restaurants in Ballater on Deeside close to Balmoral are also affected.
It is understood that salaried staff will receive 100 per cent of their monthly wage and variable hours employees will get 80 per cent of their average monthly wage.
All members of the senior management team, including Mr Fawcett, volunteered to take a pay cut to ‘lead by example’.
Kensington Palace’s head gardener has revealed his fighting spirit, as he leads a scaled-back team to keep the Palace’s famous gardens in order amid the pandemic
The foundation, which was created by the merging of The Prince’s Foundation for Building Community, The Prince’s Regeneration Trust, The Great Steward of Scotland’s Dumfries House Trust and The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in 2018, generates almost half of its income from visitors, events, fees, partnerships and other commercial activities.
According to its latest accounts, its income was £16.6 million in 2018-19.
The Queen’s private Scottish retreat at Balmoral also relies heavily on visitor income to meet around half of its £3 million plus-a-year costs. It should have opened in April but has remained closed.
His post racked up 500 likes and comments from followers keen to get a look at the inner workings of a historic palace