NEED TO KNOW
Jack Stooks, a former gardener at King Charles’ cherished Highgrove House country home, has shared more about the royal’s management style
Stooks spoke after a dispute involving the Highgrove gardeners recently made headlines
11 out of 12 gardeners at Highgrove have reportedly left since March 2022 amid rumblings of low pay and high demands
One of King Charles’ former gardeners at his Highgrove House home has revealed the royal’s requests when he went away, sharing the story amid a reported staff exodus in recent years.
Jack Stooks previously worked as a gardener at Highgrove House, the King’s beloved country home in Gloucestershire, and spoke on behalf of Spin Genie about all the protocol his team would follow when the King went away.
The British royals are known to head north to Scotland between late July and August, retreating to Balmoral Castle for vacation and relaxation.
“The King would always know what’s going on in the garden. I think that’s just the nature of the job he does, and the nature of how the royal family runs everything. They’ve got to know what’s going on on a weekly basis because otherwise things would just fall apart, or they’d lose sight of what was going on,” Stooks said about how King Charles stayed in touch.
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Then-Prince Charles at Highgrove House on May 13, 2019.
“We would all write a diary over the week, so we knew exactly what was being done and what had been achieved that week. The King would have discussions with the head gardener on a weekly basis, but there would always be two-way conversations going on,” he explained. “These would either be in writing or in person.”
According to Stooks, the sovereign was specific about his vision.
“He would say, ‘Oh, great, this has been done. But can this be done?’ ” he said. “So the head gardener and the whole garden team knew exactly what the King wanted done that month. We would then work to make sure that all the jobs were done and kept trying to achieve those goals.”
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Gardeners at work at Highgrove House on May 7, 2024.
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King Charles privately acquired Highgrove House in 1980 and has used it as a private residence ever since, giving special attention to cultivating its gardens to legendary status.
The King is an ardent gardener and designed the gardens to “please the eye and sit in harmony with nature,” Highgrove’s website says, and the landscape is managed organically and sustainably.
While the public has been welcome to visit Highgrove Gardens for 30 years, speculation of a staffing snafu among the Highgrove gardening team has recently made waves.
On July 20, The Sunday Times published a report alleging that 11 out of 12 gardeners at Highgrove have left since March 2022 amid rumblings of low wages and high demands.
The outlet claimed that at one point, half of the garden’s employees were paid minimum wage, and two head gardeners were among the people who quit.
PEOPLE understands that one grievance was reported in 2024 to 2025 out of almost 500 staff.
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Then-Prince Charles at Highgrove House on July 14, 1986.
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It was further reported that The King’s Foundation brought in a specialist human resources consultancy, which upheld claims about staff shortages, inadequate management practices and low pay.
A spokesperson for the King’s Foundation said in a statement to PEOPLE, “At The King’s Foundation, we take staff welfare extremely seriously and strive to be an exemplary employer. We are proud to regularly report very high satisfaction rates in our annual staff survey.”
“Our staff turnover is well below the national average, as is the number of formal grievances raised. For the gardening team at Highgrove specifically, we regularly review guidance from the Professional Gardeners Guild for pay benchmarking,” it continued.
“Highgrove has also seen many positive developments since The King’s Foundation became the charitable custodian of the gardens. Since 2022, the operating profit has more than doubled, a new education facility teaching traditional heritage skills to hundreds of students has been established, and visitor numbers continue to reach over 40,000 annually.”
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