Did you know that we launched The HELLO! Royal Club on Substack last year?
Every week, we share two newsletters plus a host of other posts for our free and paid subscribers. So, if you want to keep up with all the latest royal goings-on and get access to exclusive paywalled content, join the club.
To help you decide whether the Royal Club is for you, why don’t you have a read of an extract from today’s post, sharing the behind-the-scenes details of Kensington Palace’s brand new exhibition: Untold Lives: A Palace at Work.
I was lucky enough to be guided through the exhibition by one of its spectacular curators, Dr Mishka Sinha. During my tour, Dr Sinha talked me through all the weird and wonderful jobs the palace had to offer over 300 years ago.
You can watch a teaser of my interview above, but make sure to check out my Substack post for the full video.
Two roles that I was most struck by were the titles: “The Groom of The Stool” and “The Necessary Woman”. “The Groom of the Stool” would have been in charge of looking after the King’s toilet duties which included wiping him with linen cloths that were rewashed.
Despite the role being on the rather unglamorous side, at the time, it was considered to be a rather senior position.
The upholstered box pictured above, which is displayed in the exhibition, will have been the toilet of King William III. Dr Sinha elaborated: “Whilst the King was sitting on the seat, he would have been attended by the Earl of Portland – William Bentinck, at the time – who would have handed the King sheets of linen or may even have wiped the King himself.
“The linen would have later been washed, so it was very environmentally friendly.”
Then Dr Sinha explained the role of “The Necessary Woman” who would have been in charge of cleaning the toilet and, much like “The Groom of The Stool” would have been a very sought-after position, and well-respected within the royal household.
© Royal Collection Trust / © His Majesty King Charles III“The stool would have been cleaned by somebody known as The Necessary Woman,” she explained. “You can hear from the title just how important a job it is. It’s a relatively menial job yet it would have been considered a big privilege because what you would have been cleaning was essentially, the poo of the King.
LISTEN: We speak to Mary and George stars Julianne Moore and Nicholas Galitzine
“We have a wonderful portrait of a ‘Necessary Woman’ known as Bridget Holmes who served the King for many, many years and was painted when she was quite old.”
We hope you enjoyed reading this taster of our Royal Club post. To read it in full and to watch the full video, head to the HELLO! Royal Club and sign up to become a member.
LOVE THE ROYALS? JOIN THE CLUB!
If you are reading this, the chances are you are obsessed with all things royalty – which is just as well because so are we! So obsessed, in fact, we’ve launched a club solely dedicated to covering them. So welcome to The HELLO! Royal Club. We would love you to join us there…
What is it?
Interactive community offering behind-the-scenes access, exclusive royal interviews, unmissable royal insights, and an illustrious royal Inner Circle.
Member benefits
- Two weekly newsletters, one from Emily Nash
- Video posts and audio notes from Emily Nash and the HELLO! Royal team
- Access to our royal community and opportunity to interact with club writers and members
- Participate in polls, comments and discussion threads
- Access to our Ask Me Anything sessions with our journalists
- Invitations to in-person and virtual events
- A subscription to the digital edition of HELLO! Magazine (Worth £82 annually)*
- Future ‘Inner Circle’ benefits
By royal decree
You are royally invited to join The HELLO! Royal Club – and then to go forth and spread the word to your fellow royal fans. See you in the club!
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