{"id":280741,"date":"2025-07-21T19:45:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T19:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/280741\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T19:45:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T19:45:10","slug":"king-charles-is-very-proud-of-everything-he-has-created-at-highgrove-despite-gardener-exodus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/280741\/","title":{"rendered":"King Charles Is \u201cVery Proud of Everything He Has Created\u201d at Highgrove, Despite Gardener Exodus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"has-dropcap\">The garden is his favorite place, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/topic\/king-charles-iii\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>King Charles<\/strong><\/a> seems to be having a spot of bother with his weeds these days.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/uk\/royal-family\/article\/king-charles-highgrove-gardening-investigation-8rs7bt2m0\" class=\"external-link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/uk\/royal-family\/article\/king-charles-highgrove-gardening-investigation-8rs7bt2m0&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/uk\/royal-family\/article\/king-charles-highgrove-gardening-investigation-8rs7bt2m0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a report in the Sunday Times<\/a>, the King\u2019s Foundation, which is responsible for running Charles\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/style\/story\/thanks-to-king-charles-you-can-now-smell-like-highgrove-gardens\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">world-famous gardens at Highgrove<\/a>, has seen staff turnover resulting in 11 out of 12 gardeners, including two head gardeners, exiting the position since 2022.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/style\/story\/kate-winslet-king-charles-the-kings-foundation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The King\u2019s Foundation<\/a>, not King Charles himself, employs the staff at <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.highgrovegardens.com\/\" class=\"external-link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.highgrovegardens.com\/&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.highgrovegardens.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Highgrove<\/a> and according to the newspaper, the staff exodus has been so great that the gardens are largely reliant on staff from Charles\u2019s other estates. Meanwhile, an investigation was launched by the King\u2019s Foundation into the ongoing complaints.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">The investigation, according to the Sunday Times, found evidence of \u201cstaff shortages\u201d and \u201cpoor\u201d management practice and recommended \u201cmanagement training for all managers,\u201d \u201cmental health support and counseling,\u201d and a pay review, as many junior staff have complained about being paid minimum wage. Yet, insiders say issues have persisted.<\/p>\n<p>Charles, then Prince of Wales, poses for a photo at Highgrove House on May 13, 2019 in Tetbury, England.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Jackson\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">King Charles has been accused of making \u201cimpossible requests\u201d with one worker allegedly being put in his place after he didn\u2019t know about a particular flower. According to the report, the King apparently said: \u201cDon\u2019t put that man in front of me again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">Charles, who is known for being as prolific a letter writer as he is a gardener, is said to bombard his staff at Highgrove with handwritten letters in his familiar spider-like scrawl. Some letters are critical, while others are said to be laden with praise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">King Charles is known for his attention to detail, particularly when it comes to his gardens. He has spent decades creating the gardens at Highgrove, which include a kitchen garden, <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.highgrovegardens.com\/pages\/the-arboretum\" class=\"external-link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.highgrovegardens.com\/pages\/the-arboretum&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.highgrovegardens.com\/pages\/the-arboretum\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the arboretum<\/a> and <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.highgrovegardens.com\/pages\/the-stumpery\" class=\"external-link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.highgrovegardens.com\/pages\/the-stumpery&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.highgrovegardens.com\/pages\/the-stumpery\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the stumpery<\/a>, which is decorated with ferns and wooden sculptures. As the gardens flourished, Charles began opening up Highgrove and founded <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/09\/16\/business-food\/king-charles-duchy-originals-waitrose\" class=\"external-link\" data-event-click=\"{&quot;element&quot;:&quot;ExternalLink&quot;,&quot;outgoingURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/09\/16\/business-food\/king-charles-duchy-originals-waitrose&quot;}\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2022\/09\/16\/business-food\/king-charles-duchy-originals-waitrose\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">his organic food business, Duchy Originals<\/a>. In 2010, Charles opened the gardens to the public and by 2021, some 40,000 people visited each year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paywall\">He is said to be involved with every aspect of the garden, \u201csupervising everything from the size of peaches to the shade of roses,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The garden is his favorite place, but King Charles seems to be having a spot of bother with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[7709,7730,7731,1760,518,7710,519,448],"class_list":{"0":"post-280741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-british-royal-family","9":"tag-charles","10":"tag-charles-iii","11":"tag-king-charles","12":"tag-king-charles-iii","13":"tag-royal-families","14":"tag-royal-family","15":"tag-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114892945958906437","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}