Queen advertises for Royal dish washer

Have dishcloth, will travel. The Queen is advertising for a washer-up to become part of her Royal entourage.

Candidates must be punctual, reliable, able to work well in a team and have a flexible and willing attitude Photo: PA

By Anita Singh 7:46PM GMT 20 Feb 2011

The £14,200-a-year post is based at Buckingham Palace but requires travel to other Royal residences such as Balmoral, Windsor and Sandringham.

The grandly titled General Assistant (Wash Up) will spend up to two months of the year working away from London.

Candidates must be punctual, reliable, able to work well in a team and have a flexible and willing attitude.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “It is a very small, tight team and they retain that small team atmosphere when they move around. When the court moves to Balmoral or elsewhere, so does the team. The job is an official position paid from the Civil List.”

Maureen Watt, MSP for the North East Scotland constituency that includes Balmoral, said: “Haven’t they heard of dishwashing machines?”