The royal family is hiring! More specifically, Queen Elizabeth is looking for a part-time housekeeper for one of the royal palaces located in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The job opening, which is on the royal family’s job acquisitions website, is for a position that pays £9.50 an hour — about CA$13 — for a housekeeping assistant to clean the Palace of Holyroodhouse for 20 hours per week.
The job will be paying the U.K.’s new minimum wage, which will rise from £8.91 to £9.50 in April. As reported by Insider, “that’s still below the voluntary £9.90 U.K. living wage recommended by the Living Wage Foundation, which is calculated in line with the true cost of living.”
According to the opening’s description, the job is for someone looking to take on a career in hospitality, developing housekeeping skills and expertise.
“Joining our professional team, you’ll upkeep, clean and care for a wide range of interiors and items, ensuring they’re presented to their very best,” says the job description for the role, which would pay a yearly salary of about $13,000 and is open only to British citizens or someone with authorization to work in the U.K.
With an estimated wealth of about $500 million, Forbes reported in 2021 that, “The Firm—also known as “Monarchy PLC”—are the public faces of a $28 billion empire that pumps hundreds of millions of pounds into the United Kingdom’s economy every year.”
With numbers like that, one would assume that Her Majesty The Queen would consider paying employees of The Firm more livable wages.
The Royal Collection Trust states that the Palace of Holyroodhouse spans four hectares and has 289 rooms, 387 windows and 106 members of staff.
What is the upside of cleaning this massive estate for 20 hours a week at a minimum wage? Benefits include 33 days of paid vacation and a 15% contribution toward the employee’s retirement account.
