The King’s Foundation has responded to recent allegations regarding labor issues at Highgrove House, the royal residence in Gloucestershire, with a strong statement reaffirming its commitment to employee wellbeing.
The controversy, first reported by The Sunday Times, claimed that 11 out of 12 gardeners at Highgrove have resigned in the past year. According to the report, the gardening team was “overwhelmed, under-resourced, and constantly struggling to fulfill the King’s requests.”
In response, a spokesperson for the King’s Foundation told Fox News Digital that the organization takes the matter “extremely seriously” and highlighted its positive employment practices.
“At The King’s Foundation, we take staff welfare extremely seriously and strive to be an exemplary employer,” the spokesperson said. “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.”
Specifically addressing the concerns at Highgrove, the spokesperson added that the Foundation consistently benchmarks pay using guidance from the Professional Gardeners Guild to ensure fairness.
Despite the controversy, the Foundation emphasized the progress made at Highgrove since it became the charitable custodian of the gardens in 2022.
“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.”
As scrutiny continues, the Foundation’s leadership appears focused on transparency, staff satisfaction, and the ongoing development of Highgrove as both a historic estate and a center for education and sustainability.
0 Comments