Royal job ads anger locals

Press, 1 February 1988, Page 6

Royal job ads anger locals

By TONY VERDON in London The Scottish Office

and the people of Aberdeen are reportedly furious with Buckingham Palace over the Royal Household’s attraction to New Zealanders and Australians.

The row centres on the Queen’s Scottish Estate, Balmoral. Jobs there have recently been advertised in “New Zealand News U.K.,” a free London

paper for expatriate Antipodeans. However, the vacancies have only just begun appearing in the Balmoral area near Aberdeen, which has been suffering' severe unemployment since the recession in the oil in-

dustry. The advertisements are for staff in the refreshment room and

souvenir shop. They appeal for candidates who are “honest, reliable, hardworking and friendly,” with an

ability “to live with other young ladies” essential.

The advertisements do not specify whether male or female applicants are wanted, but the London “Evening Standard” diary writer reported that they

appeared to be aimed at women. However, the diarist said there was no indication why only Antipodean lassies were considered eligible.

The Buckingham Palace press office was quoted as saying the advertisements were lodged in “New Zealand News U.K.” because “we can’t fill the jobs locally because it is seasonal work.” But the diarist said

the Palace did not seem to have tried very hard. “I discover the jobs have never deen offered

to the local Aberdeen Job Centre which covers the Balmoral area. The centre’s manager tells me he

knows there have been vacancies at the estate before, but has never been approached.”

The writer said the Scottish Office Undersecretary of State, Malcolm Rifkind, had “jumped like a Highland salmon” when told of the Balmoral row.

A complaint had been duly dispatched to the Palace.

“Yesterday, job vacancies at the Balmoral Estate Office were finally posted up in Aberdeen, just in time to prevent relations between the Palace and the town becoming distinctly strained,” said the diarist. “The last time that happened was in the brutal Highland clearances 150 years ago. On that occasion, many native Scots were forced to resettle in farflung lands: the majority, it so happens, in Australia and New Zealand.”