Last fall, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made their big announcements – they were moving to Frogmore Cottage, and they were separating their office from the Kensington Palace/Cambridge operations. They would have a stand-alone “office,” the same as Prince Charles, Prince William, the Princess Royal, etc. The catch was that the Sussexes’ new office would be based in Buckingham Palace and would fall under the general purview of the Queen’s communications office, also based out of Buckingham Palace. The whole thing was meant to create a physical and emotional separation between the Sussexes and Cambridges. Well, it turns out that some “royal insiders” are butthurt about the fact that the Sussexes’ Buckingham Palace office actually, you know, takes up space in Buckingham Palace.
Harry and Meghan have been granted a prime suite of offices in Buckingham Palace — sparking grumbles from royal staff. The Sussexes and their new team will be based in up to six large rooms off the lavish master corridor. But a royal insider said: “The Palace traditionalists are grumpy that such a prime space is being given over to Harry and Meghan, who have perfectly adequate offices already at Kensington Palace.”
The rooms are currently unused and can be booked by anyone at the Palace. A Palace source said: “There are a lot of people trying to cause trouble for the Duke and Duchess as a result of this move. But the facts are they were offered these rooms by the master of the household because they are currently unoccupied and used as meeting rooms. They will be reserved for Harry and Meghan when they are at the Palace but the permanent space is shared for the staff. There is not going to be work done on the offices and there is no budget for any new furniture or anything like that. It’s simply a case of taking out the current furniture and installing new desks.”
Harry and Meghan will be moving in by the end of the year after splitting from William and Kate’s Kensington Palace operation.
They just have to bitch about something, don’t they? How dare they… use the office space which was going unused? How dare they use the offices they were given by the Queen? How dare they move their office into BP when that was truly the whole point, to separate the brothers? How dare they EXIST?? And on and on. It sounds like the Queen chose the space wisely too, or more likely, her senior staff chose the space wisely. If the office space needed any kind of renovation, the papers would have had a field day with that too, HOW DARE THEY.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and Backgrid.
I’m so tired by the whiny palace insiders.
How petty and small their lives must be if this is so distressing for them.
Maybe–given that they are so distressed–they could quit their jobs and go do something else a little less upsetting.
Just a few thoughts here.
FRIDA…I’m with you. If true, this is getting to be petty and small minded. Two people that ACTUALLY want to work are seeing all kinds of impediments. They are ridiculous.
This is EXHAUSTING !!!
Truly!! First thing after reading this, I came to comment, and just gave a big sigh, like “what’s the point?” No matter if H&M came up with a way to cure cancer (“What took you so long?”) to end world hunger (“Some people can’t eat that! Allergies!”), or give the world drinkable fresh water (“IN BOTTLES???!! PLASTIC??”), these “sources/courtiers” would find fault and complain and harass them.
It IS exhausting!
All this grumbling is really just a pre-text to let Meg know she is not welcome or important enough to occupy space. I suspect they expected her to bow to them and know her place/ just be grateful that her kind exist in the RF…
They are taking the never complain part far too far…
This is the second son of the heir apparent and brother of the heir to the heir apparent, and his wife MM…I mean c’mon they can have BP office space.
Plus, they do a lot for the crown, so they deserve this space. If they were sitting back and doing nothing, then it would be different.
I find it amusing that even the most royal of families in the most royal of palaces STILL have to deal with petty office politics of people fighting over conference rooms and the best chairs.
Yeah, to me this is hilarious.
Every office I’ve ever worked in, moving and rearranging offices has always caused the biggest dramas. Especially with officially “unused” space, because you find out that people have been using the rooms as their own personal meeting rooms, or relaxations rooms, or fight with your spouse over the phone rooms, or lunch break rooms, or nap spaces (although if they are off the main corridor, that’s not a good nap spot.)
I fully expect the next story to be from a Palace Insider complaining that Meghan stole their red stapler.
Yep, particularly if it’s a Swingline.
“And I said, I don’t care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I’m quitting, I’m going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they’ve moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were married… But then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn’t bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it’s not okay because if they take my stapler then I’ll, I’ll, I’ll set the building on fire…” (Milton, Office Space)
@ HARPERSGHOST-really brings back the memories! Worked government office job, in same building, for 25+ years. No matter which position I had (probation, promoted, demoted
(voluntarily, I swear, lol) the SECOND someone left (or before) even the staff that were higher up became freaking VULTURES!!!! Nothing was too small to steal, bargain for or fight over-hole punches, post-it pad holders, paperclip containers…it really didn’t matter what it was or what shape it was in…
P.S.-I myself scored some great stuff, HA 🤣🤣
@Molly. Your comment was hilarious. Wow, fighting over office space. Wonder who’ll get moved to the basement.
But they are conducting work on behalf of the Queen, should they not get office space the same as everyone else????? Just sucks that they keep attacking them at every turn.
They are always grumpy about something. They must be really fun at parties!
Is this more drivel from esteemed journalist Katie Nichols?
When Phillip and TQ moved into BP, Phillip tried to update some out of date things in the Palace and the courtiers bitched publicly and privately about everything, including things that benefited them.
One of the first things he did was move the kitchen closer to the dining room where they ate so that the servants didn’t have to carry their meals so far across the palace that the food regularly arrived luke warm.
They resent anyone who tries to make any changes in fear that it will lessen their positions.
“Royal Insiders” = someone who walked past Buckingham Palace one time.
Nope, this is obviously coming from courtiers. They run everything within the Royal family. I doubt they would leave their positions over this, they’ll just continue on with the leaks.
Perhaps they all need new jobs. I mean, it must be “horrible” to have to work under such dire conditions all of the time!! I say, move on, then!
Right?!? I couldn’t imagine being so damn miserable for no reason.
If I went to the press and trash talked my employer, I’d be unemployed…
Oh no. How dare they? Wonder what palace insiders think of the Andrew and underage girls story? Guess not much since mummy is parading him around like king.
Right, do you know who has a nice suite of offices in Buckingham Palace? You are correct, its PRINCE ANDREW!
Why do I get the feeling it’s Kensington Palace staff upset that Harry and Meghan are moving? The leaks have slowed a bit but with this move, they wouldn’t be able to leak anything at all. They can’t really keep an eye on the Sussexes to report back to the tabloids in exchange for keeping William and Rose Affair secret. I feel like they just word it to seem like BP, but it’s really KP upset.
@Act Up, What you have stated makes perfect sense.
ACT UP…you make a very valid point. They don’t have the Duke and Duchess around to be all in their business, I can definitely see them trying to keep tabs on them.
Yup. Since all these RR’s don’t stop kissing the dolittle’s asses. It’s easy to say BP is upset when it’s probably KP.
what a non-story – empty office space now being used! are these people so fragile they lose their minds about anything H&M do?
They didn’t take anything from anyone. The staff look unprofessional and untrustworthy. They better be careful or the clients they hope will pay top dollar for them when they leave the royal household won’t hire them because they’ve developed a reputation for running to the press about everything.
Speaking of Royal offices… did anyone see the job advertisement this week for a chef for BP? The salary was 22K per annum!!!! And to add insult, lodgings would be taken out of this (I guess at a discount rate but still). The Royals pay regular people barely minimum wage working for them (for London). Madness.
I saw that too. I didn’t realize they were taking rent out of that wage. I wish them luck finding quality at that price.
thats awful! and THAT kind of thing should be in the media spotlight, not this office space nonsense…
Minimum wage in the UK is 15k per annum
the royals are notorious for paying staff a pittance just for the “prestige” of working for them.
Yeah mininum wage is about that, but for London it should be higher no? Even the minimum living wage?
Im from NI so our wages are much lower than the rest of the UK as a whole, but this sounds so bad for a high pressured job in BP (never mind in one of the most expensive cities!).
They need to pay their staff more.
The rf is notoriously cheap. However all staff realize once they move on they can demand sky high salaries and perks. They will work for the world’s most exclusive clients for the rest of their careers.
This whole thing is really exhausting and boring. The tabloid media reporting all this like it’s news. Gossip blogs, columns, social media, commentators screaming about it on one side or the other, being super invested for no reason. And on and on and on continuing the stupid cycle. Yes I realise I’m part of it, I’m done now.
So true, Chanteuse. It really feels Trump like with both sides talking utter trash thinking they are in the right! One thing though: tabloids don’t report real news lol. So I still don’t understand why the ‘stans’ get so upset and so super invested in the tabloid gossip? Is it all true to them??! People really believe everything the tabloids say about Kate&Will and Meghan&Harry? That is completely bonkers..
lol. Is this how Trump supporters are made? It’s just ride or die regardless of the evidence? This is crazy talk.
If I roll my eyes any harder at these bitter staffers, I’ll get a headache. I suppose they’ll be counting the paperclips and sticky notes. I still suspect jealous Andrew is behind much of the pettiness.
Palace insiders need to get a life. They must not have enough to do if they’re going to nitpick office space. The Sussexes are probably taking some group’s party/napping space. That’s probably the real story. Now where will these people lounge about? I mean really!
Before, the staffers had to book the rooms on their Outlook calendars to make sure they were available. After this change, they will have to book the rooms on their Outlook calendars to see if they are available. This is a terrible hardship that can be answered only by feeding snarky comments to unfriendly yellow journalists.
Meghan can’t even breathe correctly if you ask anyone in the UK. “Look at the Duchess and the way she exhales…social climbing, attention seeking gold digger can’t even breathe without wanting attention”.
That will be a headline one day. Mark my words.
Imagine how pathetic you must be to moan about office space no was using anyways.
They didn’t push out a whole staff of people to make room for anyone. No one was using the room. They should be glad the spaces are being used now instead of just sitting there collecting dust and being used as a storage space.
Sounds like someone doesn’t want a Royal with their own household sitting in their space. Ironically all other Royals with households outside of BP have their own offices elsewhere. Harry and Meghan fall under the BP umbrella but will have a staff that answers to only them.
No other BP Royal has that.
Too damn bad though. IF they have a problem, they need to take it up with The Queen.
I am confused. The way this was written (space reserved for them) implies that the rooms also include an apartment for them when there are events at BP (like Ed, Andrew, Anne, etc. have); yet, the article only refers to office space. Has it been confirmed that Harry and Meghan will have an apartment at BP or continue to use the cottage at KP for in-town events?
Because BP is so cramped, the Sussex team can’t be squeezed in anywhere, AND BP is so state-of-the-art that space is premium and highly sought after.
As so many have said, this is EXHAUSTING.
You know something is wrong when the staff thinks they are more important than Harry/Meghan.
Well they are more important than Harry and Meghan. It’s well known the courtiers run the show; they have the power and their hands are in all the pockets so to speak. The Royals just go along with it. A bit like puppets really.
OMG Delusional…. If they are running the show why did Harry and Meghan obtain the rooms they requested? You’re not making any sense! The Courtier work for the Royals. TQ can fire anyone of them at her will.