Queen's Staff To Spend 40 Hours Changing 1,000 Clocks

The clocks going back this weekend won't affect most of us that much, with most phones and watches automatically changing - the same can't be said for the Queen's staff though.

With the change to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) happening overnight from Saturday 30 to Sunday 31 October, those who work in the royal households have a right old task on their hands.

In fact, the Queen Elizabeth's Royal Collection Trust staff will reportedly spend more than 40 hours collectively changing more than 1,000 clocks.

Or, at least, if this year is the same as all the rest.

PA

In just the Windsor Castle estate alone, the Royal Collection of clocks amounts to about 400, with another 600 at Buckingham Palace and 50 at the Palace of Holyrood House.

There are also some huge tower clocks on the list to be tackled.

Fjodor van den Broek is in charge of the Windsor Castle collection, and as reported last year by the BBC, he will spend about 16 hours this weekend changing 400 clocks. There are about 250 in the castle itself and seven tower clocks.

Speaking to the news outlet, Fjodor said: "It's just myself, and I have one colleague at Buckingham Palace who changes all the clocks there."

He added: "People are still amazed that at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace there is a small time zone in the kitchens, where the clocks are always five minutes fast.

"This is so that the food arrives on time... it's a constant reminder that this is important."

PA

He explained: "[It has been said that] clocks were a way to bring God into your house, because God made time, and man-made a machine to capture time.

"They were the supercomputers of their time.

"Now we buy a really modern smartphone, but back then if you wanted to show off you bought the latest clock."

Fjodor's normal job consists of spending one full day every month winding up the mechanical clocks to keep the pendulums swinging.

This does mean he gets those steps in though. On a typical day of walking around Windsor Castle winding the clocks up and maintaining the collection, he racks up about 16,000 steps.

He said: "My predecessor was here for 20 years, his predecessor was working for around 30 years, so I think it's a job for life.

"I'm thankful I've managed to land this job quite early in my career, so I do hope I'll be here for quite a while."

Topics: UK News, UK News, Weird, Royal Family

Amelia Ward

Amelia is a journalist at LADbible. After studying journalism at Liverpool John Moores and Salford Uni (don't ask), she went into PR and then the world of music. She spent a few years working on festivals and events before joining LADbible. In her spare time, Amelia likes music and spending good, quality time with her cat, Paul. You can contact Amelia at [email protected].

@ameliasward