Happy First Birthday Prince George, and Good Luck to the Royal Nanny
coverage about the future King’s short life so far, and the comings and goings of the royal household that swirls about him.
One recent article in in the Telegraph looks at Royal Nannies – Past and Present, and it reminded me very much of our own situation at Tutors International in placing full-time private tutors with families across the globe.
Like a royal nanny, a full-time private tutor occupies a place in the family that is very distinct from other staff the household may employ. The article comments on the character traits required in a royal nanny – the two the jump out to me being ‘Loyalty and deference.’
Deference seems to most young people these days to be an out-dated and outlandish trait to specify on a job spec. Aren’t we all about self-expression, gut instinct, and equality?
Well, no. Most employers, whether they’re a royal family hiring a private tutor or nanny, or a CEO hiring a marketing executive, expect loyalty and deference from their employees.
Our clients are some of the most affluent and influential people in the world. We would never supply a private tutor for their family who didn’t display the highest levels of discretion, loyalty, and respect for the family they are placed with.
The Telegraph article’s author, Kathryn Hughes, states that Prince George’s new nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo will avoid the traps waiting to snare a Royal Nanny due to her “professional training [that] means that not only is she creative with bits of felt, she has a sense of her own professional competence and autonomy.“
The best private tutors, like royal nannies, observe a professional code of practice and are highly skilled educators, confident in their abilities, but show the deference expected in a guest of the family.
The position of royal nanny is a somewhat precarious one, evidenced by the high turnover detailed in the article. The main problem seems to be a clash with the child’s mother over the correct way to bring up the child. Private tutors, too, balance a fine line between their own convictions based on teaching experience and subject expertise, and the wishes of the family and the role they play in the domestic dynamics.
The very best private tutors are like Maria Teresa – they are confident in their own professional competence, but they also display loyalty and deference to the family that overrides their own autonomy. We hope Maria Teresa is the same.