8 Rules William & Kate Have Their Staff Follow

The British royal family is famous for following weird rules, especially when it comes to staff. According to British journalist Ryan Parry, who worked undercover as a palace footman, "There are bizarre rules and protocols to follow." Per a tell-all article published in The Mirror, Parry had to adhere to staff rules that dictated where he was permitted to walk. As Parry wrote, "It's frowned upon for junior staff to walk along the middle of the carpets. Footmen keep to the edges." 

Even in light of Parry's experience with royal etiquette, some elements of this protocol have fallen to the wayside over the years. The late Queen Elizabeth would break royal tradition every year by drinking with a certain member of her staff. In an interview with Good Housekeeping, the late queen's chef, Darren McGrady, revealed that every year on December 25, "Her Majesty present[ed] the chef with a glass of whiskey ... That [was] the only time the chef [could go] into the dining room and [have] a glass of whiskey with the royal family."

Just like the queen, Prince William and Princess Kate have chosen to respect certain elements of royal etiquette and discard others. While the pair does still try to maintain the sanctity of the crown, they also try to follow a more casual vision of royal life. Therefore, Prince William and Princess Kate's staff follow very strict rules that enforce just the right amount of formality — and supposedly informality — in their royal residence.

Royal protocol is all about the details. To maintain tradition, members of the royal family must adhere to strict rules that dictate everything from how they hold their wine glass (by the stem) to how they stir their tea (back and forth). Because of this, British royals also expect their staff to have a keen eye for detail. King Charles, for example, requires that his staff prepare tea using a thermometer, and he will only drink earl gray tea if it has been heated to precisely 100 degrees Celsius, per the Mirror. Prince William and Princess Kate require a similar level of fastidiousness from their cleaning staff.

According to the documentary "Sandringham: The Royals at Christmas" (via the Daily Record), Prince William and Princess Kate expect their housekeepers to notice even the tiniest issues. Tracey Waterman, the royal family's head of staff recruitment, told the filmmakers that the Wales's housekeepers must pass a test to lock down the job. "One of the tests I like to do, to see if a candidate has a potential eye for detail, is to place a dead fly, either in the fireplace or on the carpet," Waterman confessed. "Once the dead fly is placed, I then bring the candidate into the room ... It's a great test ... One out of ten [candidates] will actually bend down and pick [the fly] up. That's the special housekeeper." 

Prince William and Princess Kate's "no suits" rule is not the only way the Wales household has diverted from royal traditions. The couple has also rejected traditional parenting methods in favor of a more modern approach to caring for their three children: George, Charlotte, and Louis. According to a report by The Sun, Prince William and Princess Kate want their children to learn to talk about their feelings rather than scream about them. Because of this, nobody in the royal household– staff included– is allowed to shout at the royal children. An anonymous insider told the outlet, "shouting is absolutely 'off limits'" in Prince William and Princess Kate's residence. 

One of the staff members most responsible for enforcing this rule is the couple's longtime nanny, Maria Borrallo. Per a separate piece in The Sun, Borrallo disciplines the children using the modern techniques selected by Prince William and Princess Kate. As an inside source told the outlet, "Maria is firm but she never acts unilaterally with the children on discipline." The insider went on to explain that Maria must reason with the children instead of punishing them: "There's no 'naughty step' [at the residence] but there is a 'chat sofa,' [where] things are explained and consequences outlined." Overall, the insider claims, Prince William and Princess Kate's parenting rules create a nice environment where all parties "are strict with the children but have this magic ability to appear not to be."

The royal children aren't the only ones that staff must call by their first names. According to royal journalist Valentine Low in an interview with Express, the prince of Wales asked his staff to call him "William." In Low's view, Prince William's request breaks with years of tradition and even differs considerably from the rules that King Charles once had in place. The journalist told Express: "It's really interesting the levels of formality and informality. In Charles' household, when he was Prince of Wales, you know, first thing in the morning, it was Your Royal Highness ... With William, there was none of that." 

Prince William's attempts at informality contrast with King Charles's regard for his own staff. My London reports that the king is regimented with his staff and even asks them to warm his biscuits to a specific temperature. Separate reports even indicate that the king won't take a bath if the bath plug isn't in the proper position. Unlike his father, Prince William tries not to be finicky with his employees. As Low revealed in the same interview with Express, "[Prince William's] closest advisors ... would definitely be on first-name terms [with the prince]." On top of that, Prince William has even broken protocol by eating with his staff: "[Meetings were] very informal, they'd, sort of, share pizzas."

In the Netflix documentary "Harry & Meghan," Prince Harry opened up about the role of the royal communications teams in palace life. According to the prince's account, each member of the royal family has their own public relations team, which deals with the press. Interestingly, however, Prince Harry claimed that these separate teams would compete with each other for media attention. "There's leaking, but there's also planting of stories. So if the comms team wants to be able to remove a negative story about their principal, they will trade and give [the media] something about someone else's principal," the prince said in the documentary (via Harper's Bazaar).

While this arrangement might seem like something like a free for all, the royal press staff does have to follow some rules. Prince William and Princess Kate's staff, for example, do not comment gratuitously on negative news. According to Prince William's former press secretary, Miguel Head, the communications team only fights unflattering stories in extreme circumstances. As Head — who also used to represent Prince Harry — told the Harvard Gazette in an interview, "I suppose the way that we dealt with [bad press] was really directed by [the princes] ... So, our rule of thumb was we only commented reactively on stories if the stories were judged, in our view, to have a detrimental reputational impact." However, Head claimed that this was very rare: "[T]he bar for that was quite high."