Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall Current Events 4: August-September 2005

[Harry's polo shirt]

Considering how bad security has been lately, maybe they do need a 24/7 police station in their home!

 

[tiaraprin]

We are all entitled to have a sanctuary. Camilla chose to keep her home, which I believe is called Ray Mill Farm, possibly so that she has somewhere relatively informal where she can be with her children and can meet her friends informally. I would imagine that trying to have a few girlfriends to Highgrove for a nice "bitchy" lunch could be a little impossilbe. IMTS, how can you have a catty gossip with a butler, a footman & a couple of maids hanging about. Much better to have your own space where you can throw a salad together, have a nice bottle of wine with lunch and chatter to your hearts content without worrying that the servants will sell your coversation to the tabloids. As far as the "taxpayer" footing the bill to guard the place I would assume that the funds for this come from the Duchy of Cornwall estates which are not funded by the taxpayer. The duchy produces its own revenue on which Income Tax is payed. So if it were public money paying for the guards then surely the Duchy, as a taxpayer, is simply getting it's money's worth for the tax it pays!


Tiaraprin, would you have objected in the same manner if Diana had her own place that was provided with security that was payed for from the Duchy's revenue or from public funds? I think not!

Yes I would object if Diana did that. She could pay for it out of her own purse. Don't abuse the taxpayer! I know what it is like to be one and have the money be abused!!

 

[Elspeth]

I wonder if this is being done because Charles is thinking about handing Highgrove over to William one of these years and wants somewhere that he and Camilla can use as a country base once that happens, before he becomes King and inherits Sandringham and Balmoral.

Does anybody know how big this house is?

 

[Warren]

Highgrove

Does anybody know how big this house is?

This is from the POW website
http://www.princeofwales.gov.uk/about/bio_highgrove.html

"Highgrove, in stone with neo-classical facades, has four reception rooms and six principal bedrooms. There are nearby stable buildings, staff dwellings, parkland and a home farm of nearly 350 acres.

The house was built between 1796 and 1798 for a local landowner, and was remodelled a century later. At that time, a solid parapet was added around the roof.

During the 1980s, The Prince sought advice on improving the appearance of the facade, and the solid parapet was replaced by an open balustrade surmounted with urns. Ionic pilasters were erected on the front of the house."

Since the estate is fairly large they could build one of those "Dowager Cottages" for whenever there was a need to get away from the main house.
.

 

[Elspeth]

Thanks, Warren, but I actually meant Camilla's house.

I was wondering if it's a feasible proposition for Charles and Camilla to live there if he hands Highgrove over to William before the Queen dies.

 

[Warren]

Thanks, Warren, but I actually meant Camilla's house.

Oops! A Google search has provided nothing interesting apart from the fact that the house sits in a "large estate" which would suggest the house itself is not small. Do you think they could afford to add a couple of rooms if need be? Oh, and TRF came up a couple of times as a search result!
.

 

[una]

from the dailymail june/05:

Camilla displays a firm, wifely independence, declining to do things with Charles just because he wants her to. On one recent occasion he asked her to go with him to Smith's Lawn, Windsor, to watch him play polo. She declined.

Instead, as he galloped manfully about with his mallet, she was spending Sunday afternoon alone catching up with correspondence at Ray Mill House, the home some 17 miles from Highgrove that she has decided to keep for her family to use.

Camilla having to alter her carefree attitude

It is at Ray Mill House, which she bought with the proceeds of her divorce from Brigadier Parker Bowles, that she most feels the constraints and intrusion of the personal bodyguards. Ray Mill, with its seven bedrooms and well-kept gardens, has always been something of a sanctuary for Camilla - the place where she feels she can "let her hair down" and be herself.

"She likes to go out without any make-up," says a friend. But in the presence of round-the-clock protection, she finds it virtually impossible to return to that carefree frame of mind. Her personal protection has been with her since February 10 - the day her wedding to the Prince of Wales was announced by Clarence House.

 

[Warren]

Ray Mill, with its seven bedrooms and well-kept gardens...

Seven bedrooms? No need for extensions just yet.

thanks Una
.

 

[iowabelle]

I can understand the need to have your own space, but surely Highgrove is big enough for two people to share, especially if their kids aren't there much.

And if you don't want your security around, just tell them not to go in a certain room unless called for. (And who says you have to wear your makeup around your security staff? That seems like a really weird reason for someone as previously unconcerned about her looks as Camilla is.)

 

[kelly9480]

The security staff at Highgrove have a room in the house where they stay. They aren't wandering around the house all the time. The household staff may always be underfoot, but the bodyguards aren't.

 

[iowabelle]

"She likes to go out without any make-up," says a friend. But in the presence of round-the-clock protection, she finds it virtually impossible to return to that carefree frame of mind. Her personal protection has been with her since February 10 - the day her wedding to the Prince of Wales was announced by Clarence House.

So maybe it's just the way it's reported. It's not the security people, it's the having people underfoot all the time. Surely, she understood that's what moving in with the PoW was going to be like (let alone marrying the fellow).

 

[iowabelle]

Why is the Prince of Wales giving Michael Fawcett £250,000-a-year?

It's incredible the amount of money that the PoW is giving this fellow: at least £120,000 a year for organising Charles's social diary, £50,000 as fundraiser for the Prince's Foundation, £40,000 as an 'internal decoration' consultant, £25,000 to 'administer the Prince's watercolours' and £20,000 to buy gifts for the Prince (I'm not sure if this is considered salary or to actually buy the gifts, my guess is salary).

I'm reading that 120,000 goes to a company and probably includes the salary of other employees, but that still leaves Fawcett 135,000 a year for himself. So he's a personal shopper, director of decorations (is that floral arrangements, hanging pictures?), sort of personal secretary and charity fundraiser, as well as administrator of watercolors. How do you administer watercolors?

Do you think if I dream up some crazy job title for myself Charles will pay me buckets of money?

 

[Incas]

I can understand the need to have your own space, but surely Highgrove is big enough for two people to share, especially if their kids aren't there much.

I think Charles had decorated it to his taste in the early 90's. Perhaps she didn't want to bother with another round of decorations after getting Clarence House done, or she doesn't care for Highgrove.

 

[Harry's polo shirt]

Maybe she doesn't think that Highgrove is very homey. Because of it's size, and only two people living in it.

My sister moved out our family home a few years ago, and she still calls it home. Maybe Camilla still sees Ray Mill Farm as her home.

 

[Elspeth]

I'm going to close this thread here and start the next one.

Part 2 of the Charles and Camilla: Current events thread is here:

http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7225