EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: King seeks 'talent acquisition manager' to boost new team trends now
Have you got the royal X Factor? King Charles is seeking a 'talent acquisition manager' who will command an impressive £55,000-a-year salary, plus benefits.
The successful applicant must be 'adept at using different selection techniques' and will even be given training in 'psychometric assessments'.
The advert on the royal website says: 'The Talent Acquisition team has only recently been established. Leading a small team, you'll deliver an exceptional recruitment service by managing all activity through the hiring cycle.'
Sounds like a promising TV show . . .
Have you got the royal X Factor? King Charles is seeking a 'talent acquisition manager'
Middleton's objection a blow for the neighbours
He's become something of a poster-boy for those who, frazzled by the pace of London life, seek sanctuary in rural England.
Indeed, speaking of his move to Berkshire, the Princess of Wales's brother, James Middleton, has reflected that, whereas 'in London, you don't have community', he and his French wife, Alizee, now feel 'so lucky to live in a small village with 100 people and two pubs'.
But will the intimacy of village life now feel such a blessing?
The question is prompted by the contrasting fates of the planning applications made by James and Alizee and by their nearest neighbours.
I can reveal that James, 35, and Alizee, who married 17 months ago in the South of France, have just secured permission to make profound alterations to the Grade II-listed farmhouse — close to James's parents' house in Bucklebury — which they bought for £1.45 million in 2021.
James Middleton and his French wife, Alizee, now feel 'so lucky to live in a small village with 100 people and two pubs'
Bucklebury in West Berkshire, the home town of Catherine Middleton
An 'unsympathetic' conservatory will now be demolished and replaced with an oak-framed extension. A revamped ground floor will boast a new entrance, balcony and porch, morning room, study, drawing room and boot room. Outside, there will be a new terrace and herb garden, while the driveway will be reconfigured and sealed off from the public road by electrically operated oak gates.
By contrast, their neighbours, who live 130 yards away, have received bleak news: the local council has rejected their appeal to let them demolish their bungalow — their home for seven years — and build a larger, flat-roofed replacement. It's quite a blow, not only because it's just the latest in a series of rejections the couple have suffered, but also because their plans prompted a blistering objection from . . . their newest — and closest — neighbours.
Not that the Middletons wrote the five-and-a-half page letter themselves; they hired chartered town planner Lisa Jackson to do so on their behalf. Aside from objecting to the size of the proposed new dwelling, Jackson makes it acidly clear that her clients have no time for the planting of well-spaced 'instant' trees, dismissing the suggestion as 'suburban in character'.
Perhaps James and Alizee can patch things up with their neighbours in one of those two village pubs? Cheers!
Dream trip is a
