This way she ensured that she only bought the crème de la crème.
If you want to operate within the palace walls of Her Majesty The Queen, you have to come from a good background. This is evident from the ordeal that Queen Elizabeth put potential staff members through before hiring them.
Spick and span
We’re guessing that the late Queen Elizabeth had one of the cleanest homes in all of the United Kingdom. The Queen always looked the part, and this must have been the standard for her palace. But how did she actually make that happen? As it turns out, hiring her interior designers involved a rigorous recruitment process!
‘Dead fly test’
Tracey Waterman, head of Royal Recruitment, revealed in the Sandringham: The Royals at Christmas documentary that her team had a very special test to ensure they only brought in the very best. Namely the so-called ‘dead flight test’. This involves hiding a dead fly in one of the royal chambers to test the attention of a potential candidate.
“One of the tests I like to do to see if a candidate has an eye for detail is to place a dead fly in the fireplace or on the carpet,” explains Tracey. “Once the dead fly is placed, I bring the candidate into the room.”
“I lead them around the room very slowly and give them a chance to glance at it, just to see what’s there. I take them to the fireplace, perhaps to emphasize that we have a beautiful fireplace,” she continues. “At this point I expect them to see the dead fly and hopefully pick it up.”
She explains: “It’s a great test, out of ten candidates, maybe half of them notice the fly. And just about one in ten will actually bend down and pick it up; that is that one special housekeeper.” Ha!
Source: Marie Claire UK | Image: NL Image
