With all of the shambles around Prince William and Kate this year, it’s worth noting that a huge part of the chaos could have been mitigated if they actually hired competent professionals in their office. That conversation goes down an uncomfortable path for royalists though – why is there so much turnover in Kensington Palace’s senior staff? Why didn’t Kate have a private secretary for eighteen months? Why did William’s private secretary quit last year? Why didn’t anyone want to work with Kate? Why couldn’t a staff of forty people properly manage the story around Kate’s abdominal surgery and cancer diagnosis without lying and dissembling? At some point, Buckingham Palace took over and it feels like King Charles basically appointed “handlers” to Will and Kate, to act as their private secretaries. Around the same time, the Waleses abandoned their search for a keen CEO as well.
Slowly, William has been trying to creep back and regain control of his office, especially with the messaging around Kate’s big return last month. Now it looks like William and Kate have added a new “advisor” to their Royal Foundation. This new guy is nicknamed Drastic Dave for his harsh cost-cutting measures. Why would you make him an advisor to a charitable foundation?
The Prince and Princess of Wales have beefed up their team of advisors with the man credited for turning around Tesco. Nicknamed ‘drastic Dave’ for his willingness to employ the kind of cost-cutting measures that others fear to, Sir David Lewis has been described by one source as a ‘genius’ appointment. As of this week he has been appointed as a director of William and Kate’s The Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
The trustees – led by former Tory leader Lord Hague – each undertake a balance of responsibilities divided between strategic direction, governance, oversight and fundraising. They meet at least quarterly on a formal basis and are accountable in law for the work of the Foundation. They will also meet and speak regularly to the prince and princess.
Sir David, 59, worked at Unilever for 27 years, where he rose to become president of global personal care and was credited as the brains behind the launch of the phenomenally-successful ‘Dove’ brand. It was also there that he earned his reputation for taking tough decisions, particularly in terms of cutting company spending.
In a surprise move he left to become CEO of Tesco in 2014 at a particularly difficult time for the supermarket giant. It had just posted a £6.4billion loss, with sales slumping to their lowest level in 20 years after being hit by cut-price newcomers Aldi and Lidl. Drastic Dave lived up to his name by slashing superfluous parts of the empires, cutting thousands of jobs – and perks such as private jets – as well as reducing product lines. And just two years on, he was able to report annual profits of £162million – and rising. He also sharpened up the firm’s social responsibility credentials, a move that will no doubt have gone down well at Kensington Palace.
One royal source described his appointment to the Royal Foundation as ‘genius’, noting that William and Kate had taken care to attract trustees from a wide variety of backgrounds including film producer Dame Pippa Harris, entrepreneur and former Worldpay CEO Sir Ron Kalifa, lawyer Claire Wills, former BBC executive Alice Webb and make-up superbrand Charlotte Tilbury’s CEO Lady Pinsent.
They described the couple as quietly laying ‘strong foundations’ for their future philanthropic work. The prince and princess have, however, quietly shelved plans to appoint a new CEO to run their royal household this year as they focus on Kate’s cancer diagnosis and ongoing treatment. The search was announced last September amid suggestions the Prince wanted a ‘revolutionary’ restructure to make their household more corporate.
It’s often said that corporate, private-sector people come to work for the royals because they know it will be a gentler pace and “working at such-and-such palace” looks good on a CV. This feels like an extension of that – random executives and diplomats filling up advisory roles to the Royal Foundation because it’s barely any work and it’s nice to have some royal connections. All of these big-name advisors and trustees to the Royal Foundation and the foundation itself has next to no profile or core objective. Say what you will about Charles, but The Prince’s Trust had tangible and identifiable objectives very quickly and you could see the trust’s work in real time. The Royal Foundation’s biggest successes were all Prince Harry’s ideas. Beyond that, it’s just embiggening keenery and busywork.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales talks with experts from across academia, science and the early years sector, at Windsor Castle in Windsor on January 25, 2023. – The Advisory Group has been created to offer strategic advice to The Princess of Wales and provide oversight of the work of her Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood.,Image: 751680733, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: DANIEL LEAL / Avalon
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- The Princess of Wales arrives at the Shaping Us National Symposium at the Design Museum in London, to co-host the event with the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 15 Nov 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales plays pool during his visit to The Hideaway Youth Project in Moss Side, Manchester, to mark the launch of Royal Foundation Community Impact Project and to learn more about the work of the Manchester Peace Together Alliance to reduce violence amongst young people. Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Manchester, United Kingdom When: 16 Nov 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Princess of Wales during a visit to Sebby’s Corner in Barnet, north London, to kickstart an initiative from her Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood to provide support to families with young children in the run up to Christmas. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: London, United Kingdom When: 24 Nov 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales (third right) watches as toiletries are packed during a visit to Surplus to Supper, a surplus food redistribution charity, at the charity’s headquarters based in Sunbury Cricket Club, in Surrey, to see how surplus food from across the local area is delivered, sorted and re-packaged for delivery to small community organisations Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Surrey, United Kingdom When: 18 Apr 2024 Credit: Alastair Grant/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales speaking with students of the Matrix Project during a visit to St Michael’s Church of England High School in Sandwell, West Midlands, where he is learning about the award-winning student-led initiatives available to pupils to support their mental health and wellbeing Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Sandwell, United Kingdom When: 24 Apr 2024 Credit: Oli Scarff/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince of Wales, known as the Duke of Cornwall when in Cornwall, breaks ground for the new facility during a visit to St. Mary’s Community Hospital, Isles of Scilly, to meet staff and hear about a new integrated health and social care facility which is set to be built on adjacent land owned by the Duchy of Cornwall Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Isles of Scilly , United Kingdom When: 10 May 2024 Credit: POOL/Cover Images
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- The Prince of Wales at the Government of Canada ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day, at Juno Beach in Courseulles-sur-Mer, Normandy, France Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Courseulles-sur-Mer, France When: 06 Jun 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- England vs Denmark in their group stage match during the UEFA European Championships 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany. Featuring: William, Prince of Wales Where: Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany When: 20 Jun 2024 Credit: DDP/INSTARimages **USA RIGHTS ONLY**
“…The Royal Foundation’s biggest successes were all Prince Harry’s ideas…”
Truer words have never been spoken!
Williez and katiez body of work look so babysteps and busy work compared to good king harry’s.
Yes!!
Since this point gets missed so much – these trustees, the board, thats who harry went for permission to start Invictus and that’s why invictus was started through the Royal Foundation. William and Kate had nothing to do with it. according to spare william didn’t even know until the board had already approved it.
(I know i’m preaching to the choir here but i’m putting it out there for all the lurkers lol.)
Becks1, and let’s not forget that those were Endeavor funds which Harry would have raised.
I’ve yet to read an interview with or hear of any ordinary person who credits the Royal Foundation with making a difference to their lives.
There are lots of people, some unknown, many now famous, who credit the Princes Trust with giving them the support and help they needed to change their life, get a break they needed.
Similarly there are so many veterans and their families who’ve stated how the Invictus Games helped them recover or adjust or even simply to cope with their circumstances after being wounded and injured, whether physically or emotionally.
But has anyone said anything similar about the Royal Foundation?
If so, I’ve missed it.
All the RF seems to do is periodically hand out money to some charities etc…, every once in a while we get a story about how the Wails donated an unspecified amount to a cause. TBH am not sure what it does exactly!
We hear so many stories about how Invictus, Sentebale and the Archwell Foundation help others, same goes for the Princes Trust and the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme but NOTHING about the Wails’s projects. We all know why, the person who was actually doing the work left and took his successful projects with him.
I noticed the same thing years ago about his room with the RAF. No one has ever said he helped rescue them. He worked there for a few years yet but one person is willing to take a check and talk about him. My guess is that he never actually did.
About his work with the RAF*
That’s a really interesting point. You’d think they’d have some sort of hero stories somewhere.
I remember the description of CEO they wanted, it was the literal character traits of Harry 😂😂
Even Heads Together was all Harry’s idea and willie and waity tagged them selves in – then willie demanded that Harry was to pretend that kate had thought up the idea – Harry looked livid as he was having tell lies to give her credit as this was becoming more and more frequent – he did the hard work and they took the credit
Genuine question: Has anyone heard about Heads Together recently? Its events, newsletters, activities, etc? Have the Wales mentioned it anytime in the last few months? Its under their Royal Foundation so are they doing anything about it? They attach themselves to successful initiatives and don’t do anything about them.
@RRN. Wait till 2032. They will release a video of Heads together which is action on addiction part 2. Give those poor people 8 years to prepare.
@Sarah Westwood: For the record, Kate was the one who suggested the title “Heads Together”. That was her contribution. Everything else was Harry’s, but even H has said she came up with the name. Through her coming up with the name is how they lay claim to the whole.
@RRN uh, not that I know of….great question! Seems when H left, their heads were no longer together …. I guess their heads exploded instead?
@Honeybee LOL You crack me up LOL
Too bad Drastic Dave wasn’t around when Earthshot was part of the foundation. He could have saved them the 7 million it cost for the award ceremony.
I don’t know how much money the foundation has now, but in 2022 they reported a total of 7 million. They don’t need a dozen trustees and high powered CEOs to run something that small.
I’m convinced that the only reason that they are hiring a CEO for their ‘charity’ is because Harry and Meghan have a CEO running Archwell. These dummies don’t know what a CEO does and just want to keep up with the Sussexs’.
They’re not hiring him as the CEO because – they already have one. Amanda Berry, formerly CEO of BAFTA. Sounds like he’ll be another trustee, of which they already have quite a few. (There’s also the interesting question of whether there’s a connection between AB getting the position, and that Earthshot doc getting a BAFTA award a couple of years ago, but perhaps I’m being overly cynical).
In addition to the trustees though, there’s also almost a dozen people listed as part of the leadership team under the CEO, all of whom have a “director” title. What the heck are all these people doing?
I don’t know how it works in the UK, but in the US, board members of non-profits are mostly there for fund raising, both by soliciting funds and donating personally. In fact, for many organizations, an invitation to be a board member comes with a hefty price tag.
There’s currently 10 trustees listed with a designated chairman and vice-chairman and presumably this is the advisory board (which this new guy will join).
But – there’s an additional 10 people listed below the CEO as “our team”, and every one of them has an executive director or director title, with the exception of the Chief of Staff: Executive Director, Homelessness; Executive Director, Programmes; Director, Research & Impact; Director of People and Culture; Director of Finance and Operations, etc. And I’m sure there’s additional unnamed staff doing your basic grunt work.
The question remains – with all this staff, wtf are they actually doing?
@windyriver – it’s hilarious, isn’t it? I’ll bet these various “executives/directors” are also part of W&K’s general staff, like “Assistant Mailroom Clerk and Director of People and Culture.”
With all the staff will there be anything left for good causes.
What a bunch of BS, honestly. Will and Kate never DO anything. Why do they need someone like this … for all the smoke and mirrors nonsense?
I was thinking the same thing! If The Royal Foundation actually did work or anything meaningful, I’d understand the need to hire competent people. However, it doesn’t. Pegs and Bones don’t need to hire anyone to do nothing. It’s silly.
Talented people don’t want to work for KP or the RF which offer none of what such potential employees seek:
1) A good salary
2) Opportunity for advancement
3) A non-toxic work environment
4) Acknowledgement of their effort
5) Rewarding tasks
It DOES offer career self-flagellation for the masochists among us. Frankly, I don’t know why William and Kate even bother. After Chuckles dies, they can just take the money and fade off into the sunset. I doubt anyone is going to force William to show up for royal duties.
Dave Lewis is a serious big-hitter and will have been foisted on W&K’s Foundation by the new Labour leftwing government.
They’ve only been in power three weeks, but a few days ago they were advertising for a Welsh speaking new Assistant as well for W&K.
Sounds like the new Prime Minister intends to get a grip on the two of them.
They are always keen, studying, building, and/or forming. In all of these years, the only “thing” they have to show for their efforts are their children and those would have likely come anyway. If they were in the private sector or even a real NGO/foundation or even worked for a real public institution, they would have been out on their azzes a loooooong time ago. 🤦🏽♀️
also, a lot of talented people actually want to WORK. It sounds nice to get a paycheck for doing nothing but if you are motivated and hardworking and actually want to make a difference, it can get boring real fast to just….do nothing.
honestly, can we all just take a moment to laugh at her Notebook, which we all know is a notebook because it says “Notebook”??!?!?!
She’s a literal theme dresser even down to her accessories.
All of this displays a fundamental lack of understanding of what foundation directors do. These are not staff positions. They do not work for Peggs and Kant. Directors of foundations go to periodic meetings as a group. They get briefed on activities and occasionally vote on matters of governance. That is it.
This easn’t a hiring of a working exec. Just an honorific position that signs off on filings and the likes.
So cute, that little notebook. But answer me this, Kate–what good is a notebook without a writing implement?
I would understand hiring a corporate CEO to run the vast land interests the POW has, but weird to hire someone like that to run the foundation. But maybe he can do some useful brand building there (if they are open to constructive guidance which seems unlikely).
Drastic Dave is gonna spin out of there so fast. He’s no match for the great KP Hubris. EVERYONE is gonna hate him and work against him. Go-slow? Go-never! Ha ha!
In my dreams, I have a plan/If I got me a wealthy man/I wouldn’t have to work at all/I’d fool around and have a ball”…. lyrics by Swedish band, ABBA.