Historic Royal Palaces

Welcome

Thank you for your interest in the position of Palaces and Collections Director.

We are  independent charity that loves and looks after six of the most wonderful palaces in the world. The palaces are the setting for stories that shape us all, and we’re bringing these to people in ways that mean more to them. We want everyone to find themselves in the spaces and stories we share.

Our strategy is to become a charity for everyone.

Today, relatively few people benefit from the wonderful palaces we look after and so we will make them a living resource for everyone, and we mean absolutely everyone. We want to be a source of joy, inspiration, surprise and debate, a space to stir and be stirred, onsite, offsite and online.

• This means that we will reach further; go where people are, remove every kind of barrier, and work with partners to multiply connections. We will mean more; be current and relevant, make our stories relatable to everyone, and help people explore on their own terms. We will act for the future; invest in and listen to young people, pass on better the things we look after, and make a positive impact on the planet.
• We will do all this by getting things done. We’ll work at pace because long term achievement depends on daily progress. We aim to benefit everyone because each person is as important as the next and we collaborate with each other and with our partners because we can’t do it on our own. Experimentation and learning will help to continually drive us forward.

Our financial recovery since the end of the pandemic has been better than expected and we have all worked hard to build back our unrestricted reserves. This means that we are now able to support an exciting and challenging range of new strategic projects and initiatives.

The Palaces and Collections Director will play a key role in driving our strategy and leading these projects and will continue the excellent work of the current post holder who retires after being with HRP for over 30 years.

The role provides strategic leadership for how we manage, love, look after, and improve the palaces to the very highest standards, matching their status. Ensuring that our buildings, collections and outside spaces are conserved for today and the future, and that the stories they tell represent and hold meaning for everyone, is a leading objective of the role.

This is an exciting time to join HRP and if you have the experience, expertise and mindset that we need to help us achieve our goals, then we would love to hear from you.

Best wishes

John Barnes
Chief Executive Officer