Earning a living as a non-full time royal

[tommy100]

I'd love to one day see a royal working as a teacher of a doctor or similar. But I'd guess in this day and age it would be too risky - people sending their kids to their school or practice just to see teh royal.

 

[Sancia]

I'd love to one day see a royal working as a teacher of a doctor or similar. But I'd guess in this day and age it would be too risky - people sending their kids to their school or practice just to see teh royal.

Hasn't Infanta Elena worked for some months as a part-time teacher?

 

[PhillyMonarchist]

I'd love to one day see a royal working as a teacher of a doctor or similar. But I'd guess in this day and age it would be too risky - people sending their kids to their school or practice just to see teh royal.

Didn’t Ingrid Alexandra did this plus dish washing

 

[tommy100]

Yes I'd forgotten about Elena. She got a diploma asa teacher of secondary school and worked as and English teacher in the 80s/early 90s I believe.

 

[Curryong]

The present Duchess of Kent worked for several years at a London secondary school as a school teacher. She didn’t use her own name or styling but apparently everyone knew who she really was.

 

[fabaunty]

I believe the Earl and Countess of St Andrews have both had successful carers , he as a diplomat , and she as a academic . I do not know the profession of the Earl of Ulster , however his wife is a full time doctor .

 

[Somebody]

A scientific career is indeed a great option. The Japanese royals seem to do it as their non-controversial pastime.

In general, I would say that great-grandchildren of a monarch (such as the two earls) have quite a bit of leeway as long as they are not banking on their royal connection.

 

[Mbruno]

I believe the Earl and Countess of St Andrews have both had successful carers , he as a diplomat , and she as a academic . I do not know the profession of the Earl of Ulster , however his wife is a full time doctor .

Academic careers, especially in mathematics or natural sciences, should actually be a good option for junior royals. First of all, it is a type of career where one is probably the least likely to be accused of personal financial gain based on being close to the head of state. Second, although it is not 100% impossible that someone may be favored in this profession based on his/her family name, decisions on research grants, publications, or promotions tend to be based on scientific merit assessed by peer review, rather than social or family connections. Third, it is an occupation that, in my opinion, meets the aristocratic ideals of noblesse oblige , especially in terms of selfless pursuit of knowledge for the betterment of mankind or pure intellectual curiosity, with no immediate intention of personal profit or financial gain. Not surprisingly, many European scientists in the past were also aristocrats.

Unfortunately, few royals seem to be academically inclined and favor instead other career paths such as the military, the arts, or something related to management of land estates.

 

[GondorHasNoPants]

I believe the Earl and Countess of St Andrews have both had successful carers , he as a diplomat , and she as a academic . I do not know the profession of the Earl of Ulster , however his wife is a full time doctor .

The Earl of Ulster served in the British Army from 1998 to 2008, and apparently now works for The Transnational Crisis Project, 'a unique, stateless social enterprise dedicated to developing transnational security strategies for governments around the world'.

 

[Tatiana Maria]

Sofia got salary when she worked as the Secretary General of Project Playground until spring 2015. Madeleine has been Vice Honorary Chair of World Childhood Foundation since December 2021, she doesn't get any salary. The problem perhaps is, that we or the Swedes don't know how much she works for WCF. Should we know that, I think not. She is working for WCF and that's it. [...]

Thank you for the response, but I don't think those facts explain why the Swedish public have criticized Madeleine for "not working" but have not criticized Sofia for "not working" (which was the point of my original response to Meraude). The public did not know how many hours Sofia worked for Project Playground, either, and whether the women accepted a salary or not is irrelevant to the question of whether they were working.

 

[Silverpot]

Thank you for the response, but I don't think those facts explain why the Swedish public have criticized Madeleine for "not working" but have not criticized Sofia for "not working" (which was the point of my original response to Meraude). The public did not know how many hours Sofia worked for Project Playground, either, and whether the women accepted a salary or not is irrelevant to the question of whether they were working.

I'm not aware that anyone is criticizing Madeleine for not working, maybe the idiot editor in chief of Svensk Damtidning, but it's not the common opinion.
She was criticized when she was young for her bratish behaviour, but nothing else. And that was more like, "get a job and a hair cut" kind of remark from older people.

 

[eejm]

I believe Princess Christina of Sweden is trained as an interior designer. Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg trained as a nurse. I don’t know if or how long either worked in these professions.

Christina of the Netherlands was a music teacher prior to her marriage. I know
some of the Austrian Habsburgs worked as jewel experts, archivists, and historians.

 

[Somebody]

I'd love to one day see a royal working as a teacher of a doctor or similar. But I'd guess in this day and age it would be too risky - people sending their kids to their school or practice just to see teh royal.

Hasn't Infanta Elena worked for some months as a part-time teacher?

Princess Alexia of Greece got her degree in teaching and worked as a primary school teacher both in London as well as Barcelona (although her father of course was no longer king at that point); and her cousin Elena indeed got a degree for teaching English in secondary school but I don't know for how long she worked as a teacher.

 

[Luc122]

teachers, a great but often overlooked and undervalued profession

 

[Halise]

Princess Birgitta of Sweden I think she studied physiotherapy and practiced it for a short time, but I remember her telling how she would meet people in the street who recognized her and said they were her students in their youth
I'm not sure if she was the one who recorded an aerobics CD

Marta Louise studied it too, then returned to horses, got married and set up the school of angels, published books and from then on to the present day

Madeleine took a course in law but after that nothing

 

[JR76]

Princess Birgitta of Sweden I think she studied physiotherapy and practiced it for a short time, but I remember her telling how she would meet people in the street who recognized her and said they were her students in their youth
I'm not sure if she was the one who recorded an aerobics CD

Marta Louise studied it too, then returned to horses, got married and set up the school of angels, published books and from then on to the present day

Madeleine took a course in law but after that nothing

It was so long ago that Princess Birgitta did a gymnastics Lp "Spänsta med Birgitta"

spänsta med birgitta - Google Search

Princess Madeleine has a Bachelor of Arts in art history, ethnology and modern history.

 

[Halise]

I just remember Silvia talking about how the media focused on, let's say, silly aspects, especially regarding Madeleine, and as a counterweight she mentioned

 

[Countessmeout]

If we look outside of European royals, royals have held careers.

The CP of Japan was an University researcher for years, as was his daughter Mako prior to marriage and giving up her place in the royal family. His daughter Kako works with a society for the deaf. Princess Akiko of Mikasa has been a visiting researcher at universities as well.

In Thailand both the king's younger sisters have balanced teaching careers as well as royal duties. Siridhorn teaches history at the military academy, and Chulaborn has been a guest lecturer in Chemistry. The king's eldest daughter Bajarakitiyabha has served as an ambassador, an attorney in the Attorney general's office and is now chief of staff for her father's royal bodyguards.
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[victor1319]

In German history the later born sons went for hundreds of years eastward and built their own familiy branches there.

And this is true for many nobles elsewhere.

In my opinion the problem of nowadays is, that so many younger nobles strive for a career in finance or science. They wont make "real" money there. They will not be the founders of new noble lines. Their descendants will disappear into the stream of life, into obscurity.

And one should not forget: Many of them have a very good start into life. An excellent upbringing and education, good genes. They are the offspring of families, which were in charge for the longest time in Europeland...

 

[Tatiana Maria]

In the past, the alternative for a princess like Madeleine would be basically restricted to marrying a foreign royal (in Sweden, in particular, the law used to bar princesses from marrying non-royal Swedes, even noblemen, or else they would lose their HRH status).

For junior princes, on the other hand, not necessarily in Sweden specifically, but in Europe in general, the alternatives were normally a career in the military and/ or running a landed estate (i.e., the typical occupations of an aristocrat). I suppose that running a business that sells goods directly to consumers was seen as "bourgeois" (or "burgeois" in alternative US spelling) and unsuitable for a prince. Note that junior princes in the past, regardless of having a career or not, would usually get a stipend from the King anyway, so they really didn't need to make much money.

Things are different now because both junior princes and princesses are increasingly expected to support themselves and foreign royal marriages are no longer a common option for princesses in particular.

I suppose that, whatever private business a prince or princess gets into, he or she will be accused of taking advantage of his or her name/ celebrity, so they are not in an easy spot.

A good description. One might also identify some further developments occurring over the past century or so after European royalty began to expand outside of the "traditional" vocations you discussed (I would suggest that the new developments commenced after the First World War, or would you identify a different turning point?).

Initially, the royal family members who pursued for-profit careers outside the traditional aristocratic spheres tended to be men who took executive posts at investment banks or on the boards of companies with posh reputations. While such careers remain popular in European royal circles, over the last decade or so there has been a surge in European royal and noble family members, both men and women, launching careers built on marketing one's own persona (influencer, model, entertainer, brand ambassador, etc.).

Another evolution concerns the entry of royal women into the job market. Among European royal/noble women born before the 1960s or thereabouts, having a long-term professional career seems to have been the exception rather than the norm.

 

[Meraude]

Another evolution concerns the entry of royal women into the job market. Among European royal/noble women born before the 1960s or thereabouts, having a long-term professional career seems to have been the exception rather than the norm.

it was not only royal/noble women in Europe who were not expected to have a long-term professional career, the same was true for the middle class women too, especially married women. It was only the working-class women and the wives of farmers and farmhands who were expected to continue to work (often without pay), during the first half of the 20th century. In Sweden there had been discussions during the 1930s to forbid married women to work! It's first in the late 1960s and the 1970s there came reforms that made it possible for women to continue working, and having a career, when having young children.

If you look at the Swedish king's four sisters, born between 1934 and 1943, the three oldest do have studied (dressmaking, physical education teacher, kindergarden teacher), but they only worked until they got married. It's only Christina who went on to get a university degree, and then continued to work after marriage and children.

 

[Meraude]

Unfortunately, few royals seem to be academically inclined and favor instead other career paths such as the military, the arts, or something related to management of land estates.

I wonder if any of those royals who became monarchs had been academically inclined, but had had to follow royal protocol regading what was a suitable education for a future monarch.

For example King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden had a reputation as a "professional amateur professor", and spent many summers as an archaeologist. His granddaughter Queen Margrethe of Denmark studied prehistoric archaeology in the UK for two years, and had also helpt her grandfather at digs.
Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands studied law among other subjects from 1956, and obtained a law degree in 1961, which seems to indicate an interest in law above what could be needed as a future Queen.

 

[Somebody]

I am quite sure that in Beatrix' case law was decided on to be a proper preparation for her role. I doubt she would have chosen it, had she not been the future queen. Note that she was the very first Dutch monarch with a full university education, her mother did attend the same university but instead of completing a degree (which was expected of Beatrix), she received an honorary doctorate for her efforts.

Willem-Alexander and Amalia made different choices (although Amalua's degree includes law - but her multidisciplinary degree didn't exist at the time of her grandmother) but all were made keeping in mind their future role as monarch. An engineering degree - like their sibling - seems less relevant for their future role.

 

[hereditarytitles]

I remember that Beatrix was the best educated queen of her time. This was also evident during her reign. She was clever, educated and committed and always knew what she was talking about.