King Charles and his gardening staff

I imagine the turnover for gardeners in the Cotswalds is pretty high, given the demographic & the number of country houses requiring their services, & the cost of accommodation there.

I mean the King's comment.

Has this comment about ragwort been confirmed at all?

Quote Mollygo Sun 27-Jul-25 17:48:45
Anniebach
What of Diana’s lovers? there certainly more than three in her marriage and she was certainly a third in several marriages
But this is about King Charles and his gardening staff, and their pay, with a diversion into ragwort.
Where does Diana fit into this? Did she garden? Did she get leave because she didn’t get paid enough?

My post was in reply to a question about Diana , best read all
posts in a thread ?

Allira

I don't think his time in the Forces was the total sum of his working life
😂😂😂

Well of course it wasn’t, but then we’ll get into what people consider to be work.
Before that starts Google says

Prince Charles founded The Prince’s Trust with his Royal Navy severance pay of £7,400.

Both William and Harry were paid according to rank/job in the forces. When William joined the Air Ambulance Service he donated his salary to charity.

Anniebach

What of Diana’s lovers? there certainly more than three in her marriage and she was certainly a third in several marriages

But this is about King Charles and his gardening staff, and their pay, with a diversion into ragwort.
Where does Diana fit into this? Did she garden? Did she get leave because she didn’t get paid enough?

I don't think his time in the Forces was the total sum of his working life
😂😂😂

silverlining48

I know Charles’ work-life was short but hadn’t realised it was that short. Retired in his twenties, as a Commander, after 5 years. Wow! 😮
I put 46 years in and didn’t get further up the greasy pole than the second to bottom rung. …..Horses for courses, now back to ragwort

I've no idea to how people in forces advance or if they do, apart from the war. I'd reckon he was treated differently to most.

silverlining48

I know Charles’ work-life was short but hadn’t realised it was that short. Retired in his twenties, as a Commander, after 5 years. Wow! 😮
I put 46 years in and didn’t get further up the greasy pole than the second to bottom rung. …..Horses for courses, now back to ragwort

Well, I imagine he didn't rise in the ranks from an Able Seaman! He had a degree so would have entered as an officer anyway.
I would just add that he was well thought of in the RN.
.

escaped

MaizieD

Does your dog make a habit of eating vegetation?

What are the annual figures of dogs dying of ragwort poisoning?

Plants, shrubs, grasses etc.
And
Wasps, fish hooks, socks, my sunglasses, etc.
Well you did ask. Anything!

Probably very few dogs die of ragwort poisoning, but I'm not taking any chances! Our vet bills far exceed the norm.

We had a dog whose neighbour ate conkers.
The vet thought she possibly had a bowel tumour, opened her up to find conkers stuck in her intestines!

Wasps - yes, one of ours was always catching wasps (daft thing), another one I know ate poo he found and a DN's dog ate something in a hedgerow and ended up on a drip at the vets.
Ragwort? We never knew.

(According to the Dogs Trust list there are a large number of toxic to dogs plants commonly grown as garden ornamentals. Who's worrying about them?)

I checked carefully before I gave DS and DIL some garden pot plants.

I know Charles’ work-life was short but hadn’t realised it was that short. Retired in his twenties, as a Commander, after 5 years. Wow! 😮
I put 46 years in and didn’t get further up the greasy pole than the second to bottom rung. …..Horses for courses, now back to ragwort

See Appendix 10. This is from 20+ years ago, but the danger is still present. It’s not helpful to minimise the risk in my opinion, it’s far better to be safe than sorry, and I don’t blame the king for being angry that it was where it shouldn’t have been on his land.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5cd93824e5274a38bf503d1d/code-of-practice-on-how-to-prevent-the-spread-of-ragwort.pdf

MaizieD

Does your dog make a habit of eating vegetation?

What are the annual figures of dogs dying of ragwort poisoning?

Ours do.

Grass, after hunting. Parsons were bred to hunt the ground.

MaizieD

Does your dog make a habit of eating vegetation?

What are the annual figures of dogs dying of ragwort poisoning?

Plants, shrubs, grasses etc.
And
Wasps, fish hooks, socks, my sunglasses, etc.
Well you did ask. Anything!

Probably very few dogs die of ragwort poisoning, but I'm not taking any chances! Our vet bills far exceed the norm.

Above to escaped, I forgot to 'quote'

Does your dog make a habit of eating vegetation?

What are the annual figures of dogs dying of ragwort poisoning?

Why, if it's not a great problem?

I didn't say that it isn't a problem, Allira. I said that people were being over dramatic about it.

It's not instant death to horses, sheep and cattle, though you'd think it was by the way people were talking about it.

Dogs are highly unlikely to eat it

(According to the Dogs Trust list there are a large number of toxic to dogs plants commonly grown as garden ornamentals. Who's worrying about them?)

No-one (including Mr Google) has produced any evidence of it 'poisoning watercourses'.

Anniebach

Quote Kate1949 Sat 26-Jul-25 16:33:42
As Eloethan says, Charles has never held down a normal job. How can he possibly have any idea about the pressures working people face.

Some seem to know he never had any pressures !

He served in both the RAF and Royal Navy. From 1971 to 1972 on the guided-missile destroyer HMS Norfolk and the frigates HMS Minerva, from 1972 to 1973, and HMS Jupiter in 1974. That same year, he also qualified as a helicopter pilot at RNAS Yeovilton, and during his training to be a helicopter pilot underwent commando training at Commando Training Centre Royal Marines at Lympstone. Charles subsequently joined a Royal Marines air support squadron of the Fleet Air Arm, 845 Naval Air Squadron, operating as a pilot, from HMS Hermes, flying the Royal Marines commando variant of the Westland Wessex helicopter.

Charles spent his last 10 months of active service in the Navy commanding the coastal minehunter HMS Bronington, beginning on 9 February 1976.He retired from active military service at the rank of Commander.

(

Oh Gawd! Can we please leave Diana and her lovers out of this?

Going back to ragwort…Plants seed themselves where they want to and overgrazed fields or anything that creates their favourite environment is where they will plonk themselves. Giant Hogweed is another example of a self seeder that’s becoming a real menace on farms and in rural gardens.
It’s all very well thinking that ragwort is not as dangerous as some people think. Keeping horses and ponies is hard work and blooming expensive. Would you take the risk? I certainly didn’t.

Incidentally, a good friend of mine was very ill with unexplained anaemia like symptoms for months. It was only when she became jaundiced that our GP made the connection between her symptoms and the ragwort she was pulling in her daughter’s pony’s paddock!

Oh my.

Gardeners resigning, ragwort, the King's wives - all in one post.

What of Diana’s lovers? there certainly more than three in her marriage and she was certainly a third in several marriages

No, I have no trouble in thinking of Charles being our King.

For obvious reasons, he will have nowhere near as long as his mother in the role of monarch, but in his own words, I hope he is ‘spared’ for many years to come, not least because it will give William and Catherine more time to bring up their family in relative normality.

Is anyone else having trouble adjusting to Charles being the king?

When people say "King Charles" my mind always turns to an image of a little, droopy eared spaniel with a round face.

Perhaps it is because Queen Elizabeth came to the throne when I was still tiny and she was all I knew until very recently.

To me he is still Prince Charles unless I think about it. As for 'the third person' in his marriage to Diana being Queen, I just can't get my head round it.

I think that there is a bit of over dramatisation of the ‘dangers’ of ragwort happening on this thread. And I speak as one who has horses, dogs and ragwort (which we pull up year after year after year)

Why, if it's not a great problem?

One problem is that it spreads by seed and by root and can take over, as it has on verges around here in Councils' misguided attempts at 'rewilding'.