(never named, she considers it undignified, or upset, nobody wants to go hungry!)
The Queen’s Head Cook guards her recipes and papers as jealously as her boss and sovereign guards the fairy royal powers. The Head Cook sets the daily menu and those working under her have to cook in the pre-determined way - that is what she thinks is right. In fairness, the meals prepared are delicious and the Head Cook generally is right but don’t look for invention and originality here.
It has only been the Queen’s insistence that cuisine from other worlds makes a regular appearance that anything new comes on to the menu at all. Some of these new dishes go down well (lasagne, pizza, casseroles), others do not (the idea of toad in the hole has totally been misunderstood here! They look for the toads and believe humans are mis-selling the dish because there aren’t any toads in it).
The one thing the Head Cook is proud of is the way the kitchen staff work as a well oiled team, nobody goes hungry and the kitchens are kept meticulously clean.
Palace staff wear a uniform of black jacket with matching trousers or skirt, white shirt or blouse with big red buttons, red socks, stockings or tights and red shoes. Smart appearance is compulsory at all times.
The Queen wears gowns and tiaras almost always and refers to this as her working uniform. Eileen prefers smart casual trousers and tops especially when flying. This has caused some disapproval but the Kingdom generally can see Eileen does have a point here. Tutus are no good to anybody when caught in a cross wind! Eileen can and did dress up during her time in the Palace, which, for ceremonial occasions, she doesn’t mind, being glad to play her part. Where Eileen resents is when the Queen expects her cousin to “doll up” for private dinners and things like that. Eileen has no problem with the Queen laying down the law, it is the monarch’s job, but to tell her own cousin how to dress is a role too far. Eileen never looks scruffy. She has far too much pride for that and, for Eileen, that should be enough to satisfy the Queen.
The Queen’s maids and ladies-in-waiting come from the upper classes and are mainly dwarves
and elves. It is considered an honour to serve the monarch this way so even the most uppity elf
will not turn down the chance to be a royal maid. As well as carrying out their duties, they act as a “sounding board” for their boss on the very strict understanding nothing they hear gets passed on
to FNN. This is particularly important when Roxannadrell has a good whinge about the Council and so far there have been no leaks. It is expected any good stories can be written down and kept utterly secure so the maid in question can publish her memoirs the moment she leaves office. This works well for the Queen as most maids stay with her for decades so it takes ages for a new royal insider book to appear. What is not widely known is the maid who’s written the book gives over a small percentage of, appropriately, royalties to the Queen so employee and employer make a tidy profit out of the memoirs. This is roughly akin to Queen Elizabeth the First taking a share of the profits brought back by the likes of Sir Francis Drake!