Summer Wardens
A warden showing visitors the Grand Staircase at Buckingham Palace ©
About the role
As a Summer Warden at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, or the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, you play a crucial role in enhancing the visitors' experiences during the busiest months. Together with the year-round Visitor Services team, you welcome people from all over the world and help them enjoy the exhibitions, Palaces and works of art from the Royal Collection.
After an extensive training period, you will be ready to share your knowledge of the Royal Collection and Palaces with confidence and clarity.
Whether it is greeting visitors on arrival, carrying out security checks, handing out Multimedia Guides, or answering questions in the State Rooms, you create the kind of exceptional customer experience that leaves a lasting and positive impression.
A warden and visitors looking up at a chandelier in the White Drawing Room, Buckingham Palace ©
Sam’s experience
As a warden you get to do a bit of everything. You get to engage with people about history and be a friendly face in a remarkable experience. The real thing we wardens do is provide access to the Royal Collection, to make it for everyone to enjoy!
My average day at work starts with coming in a little early to get changed into my uniform, then making my way to the morning briefing, then we all head on position, ready to open the doors. The rest of the day we rotate our positions around and help our visitors with any queries they may have.
People tend to be surprised at the fast-paced nature of this role, the daily hustle and bustle means that you really bond with your team and never have a dull moment.
The best thing about working for The Royal Household is the people, there is a real sense of community.
My advice to someone applying for the role would be not to worry yourself! When applying to work in a working royal residence it can seem daunting, but truthfully the recruitment team and everyone at Royal Collection Trust are super friendly and are completely on your side.
Heather’s experience
I started as a Warden on the Access Team in Buckingham Palace in summer 2022 which involved welcoming and helping Access visitors around the State Rooms.
A lot of people don’t realise the incredible Access route that is available for visiting the State Rooms. It was such a joy to welcome visitors at Buckingham Palace and escort them to the beginning of their tour.
I was scheduled to spend half of my week working in the State Rooms and the other half in my Access team. I enjoyed starting the day together at briefing as it could be very busy throughout the day. I spent a lot of the day talking to visitors in the State Rooms or helping Access visitors on their route and finding out how their visit was going.
Being part of a working palace makes everything exceptional! I love seeing behind the scenes to the different parts of the royal household and knowing you have a part to play.
The team is so diverse in backgrounds and experience that it makes working with them so interesting as everyone has something unique to contribute.
You need to be willing to interact with people! This doesn’t mean you have to be really confident or have lots of experience with people as you get excellent customer service training. The most important thing is to be willing to try and enjoy working in a team!
Latest vacancies
Visit our Current vacancies page to view Royal Collection Trust's latest opportunities in London, Windsor and Edinburgh, including summer jobs and internships.
