Wanted: A servant to run the royal bath

Photo / Thinkstock

It is hardly a complex or onerous procedure, but Buckingham Palace has decided that running one's own bath is not a task that members of the Royal Family and guests of the Queen should be burdened with.

The Royal Household is seeking to appoint a housekeeping assistant, one of whose jobs will be to put in the plug, turn on the tap and check the temperature of the water when the bath is full.

The successful candidate for the £14,200-a-year post (NZ$27,000) will be "committed to achieving exceptional standards of service provision".

As well as filling the royal bath, he or she will pack and unpack for guests of the Royal Household, iron their clothes, help them dress, look after their jewellery and arrange for tea and breakfast trays to be brought to their room.

As the modest starting salary indicates, the job is near the bottom of the Palace hierarchy. But whoever fills the vacancy will rub shoulders with the Queen and Prince Philip.

The job advertisement, which appears on the Royal Household website, says the post holder "will have contact with Members of the Royal Family, guests and all levels of Royal Household staff".

The new recruit will join a department of more than 250 people, including cooks, footmen, butlers and valets. Although based at Buckingham Palace, whoever is hired will also work at other royal residences, such as Balmoral and Sandringham, for up to three months each year and play a role in hospitality for official banquets and private entertaining by the Royals.

The assistant's main duty will be "high quality cleaning, presentation and guest care in the post holder's designated area, consisting of the personal rooms of the Royal Family, their guests' suites, State Apartments, cloakrooms, staff and office accommodation, staircases and corridors".

The 40-hour-a-week job requires someone with a "friendly, polite and approachable disposition and an ability to be discrete and maintain confidentiality."

In 2003, there was an outcry over Royal extravagance after it was revealed that Prince Charles had a favourite servant who squeezed the toothpaste tube for him before he cleaned his teeth.

- DAILY MAIL