Nothing But Assurance.

By Wayne Fitzharris

Every so often I find myself looking back at those years in Jordan and wondering what I would say if I could spend an afternoon with the young Palace Manager I once was. Not the version that exists in photographs, but the real person rushing through corridors, checking preparations, chasing deliveries, reviewing inventories and trying to stay one step ahead of whatever challenge tomorrow might bring.

The truth is, I do not think I would spend much time giving advice. In many ways, I would probably spend more time reassuring him. I Believe I was on exactly the right track, so I probably just needed to be told exactly that.

When you are young and ambitious, there is always a feeling that you should be doing more. You look ahead at people with greater experience and bigger responsibilities and wonder whether you are progressing quickly enough. You worry about opportunities. You question decisions. You wonder if all the effort is really leading anywhere.

Looking back now, I can see that the young manager never needed to worry quite so much.

What he could not see at the time was that every inventory he created, every storeroom he organised and every standard he introduced was quietly shaping the person he would eventually become.

At the time, I thought I was simply doing my job.

My days were filled with lists, organisation and preparation. I seemed to spend half my life ensuring that silver was where it should be, china was properly stored, supplies were available and that the team always had what they needed. Whether we were preparing for an event inside one of the Royal Palaces or supporting activities elsewhere within the Royal Household, there was always another detail demanding attention.

I genuinely enjoyed it. There was something satisfying about creating order from complexity. I liked knowing where everything was. I liked systems. I liked preparation. Most of all, I liked the feeling that came from knowing the team could perform confidently because everything had already been thought through before the first guest arrived.

What I realise now is that I was never really organising silver or managing inventories.

I was trying to create confidence. I wanted people to begin their day knowing they had the tools to succeed. I wanted them to feel prepared rather than anxious. If somebody needed equipment, it was there. If they needed supplies, they could find them. If an unexpected request arrived, we were ready to respond because we had already spent countless hours preparing for possibilities that might never even happen.

That preparation gave people confidence, and confidence changed everything.

The atmosphere within a team is completely different when people feel ready for what lies ahead. They stand differently. They communicate differently. They approach challenges with calmness rather than uncertainty. Looking back, that may have been one of the most valuable lessons palace life taught me, although I do not think I recognised it at the time.

Of course, none of this could ever have been achieved alone. One of the things I remember most fondly about those years was the people. We were an extraordinary mixture of personalities, backgrounds and experiences, yet somehow we shared a common purpose. For all the attention placed upon standards, organisation and preparation, the real strength of the operation always came from the people themselves.