This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 62, English with Jo and the Royal Family.
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Are you curious about the British royal family?
Today you'll meet someone who actually worked for three princes and you'll learn some fancy phrases to talk about a fun and fancy life.
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Hey, Aubrey, how's it going today?
I'm great.
I just saw something really funny online that I'm going to run by you.
I saw this meme that said why do underwear and socks come in resealable bags, but chips and cereal don't?
And I was like, mind blown.
It's so true.
Those are the things we need to be able to reseal, right?
Why do all these other things come in resealable bags?
That is very odd, isn't it?
Like bedding.
You know, like when we say bedding, you guys, that can refer to sheets, duvet covers, pillowcases.
That's all bedding, right?
I feel like if I ever ordered new sheets, that also comes in resealable bags.
Why do these cloth things?
That is odd.
I don't know.
I never thought about it.
I know, and I'll order athletic clothing, and it comes in a very nice, high-quality, resealable bag.
That I feel like I should reuse this, but for what?
But...
I know.
Who doesn't?
I'm the same.
I always want to keep it and reuse it for something.
Maybe we should just when we buy a bag of chips, we should dump that into the resealable bags that our clothes come in.
That's the problem is I feel like it's not sanitary enough to put food in it.
I don't know.
Maybe it is.
But I'm like, you know, who knows who touched this and clothes came in it.
Instead, let's just make the food in a resealable bag so it lasts longer.
You know, I think the people that make those chip clips, I don't know if our listeners have these in their country, but the chip clips, there's just these clips that you put on bags that are not resealable to keep them closed.
I think the chip clip makers paid everyone off so they are still in business.
It's a conspiracy.
There are a lot of conspiracy theories out there, and some of them have to do with the royal family.
And we're not going to get into those conspiracy theories today, but we are getting into the royal family family.
Guys, this is so cool.
You're going to meet a woman, a teacher, named Jo, today from englishwithjocom, and she actually worked for the royal family for five years.
Yes, exactly.
She's from Australia, so she has an amazing accent.
And what an interesting job.
I'm excited for you guys to hear this with her fantastic accent.
There's a lot of information here, new idioms, conversation lessons, business English lessons.
This is a great interview for teachers.
Well, that information is about her website.
So that is what is on EnglishWithJo.com.
She has conversation lessons and idiom lessons, business English lessons.
So a lot of it is online. material for teachers, right?
They're lessons.
But students, you can also go to englishwithjoe.com and see great vocab stuff on there.
So as Aubrey said, Joe is Australian, and I love that we could bring this accent to you guys.
So let's hear Joe introduce herself.
Sure.
Well, I'm an English teacher.
As you said, I have an online English teaching website called English with Jo.
I grew up in Sydney, Australia, but I've spent quite a few years overseas.
So I spent about five years living in the UK and then another three years living in Greece.
And now I'm back here in Australia again.
All right, guys.
So, of course, the best part of her story is that she ended up getting a job for the British royal family.
That is insane.
Let's go back to Jo real fast, you guys, because I want you to hear how that happened.
It was an accident.
So when I arrived in London, I was very keen to get a job as soon as possible.
So I sent my CV in many different directions to many recruiters and then one day I got a call from one recruiter saying that they received my application and they wanted me to go in for an interview.
So I asked them to tell me more about the job and who it would be working for.
And then I was very surprised when they told me that actually it was a secret and they could not reveal who the employer was.
But she said to me, look, trust me, it is interesting, you know, come in for the interview.
So it wasn't until I'd had about three interviews that they finally told me that the job was for the Prince of Wales, who most people.
No, it was Prince Charles.
So in the end I got the job and I worked in the office of Prince Charles for three years and then the office of Prince William and Prince Harry for one and a half years.
All right, Aubrey, that's crazy.
I know, so interesting.
I wonder if it was really as glamorous as I'm imagining.
I don't know.
What do you think that would be like, that job?
I know like when we, if I were to imagine working for the British royal family, I'm imagining like beautiful dresses and gold brocade dresses, desks and gold gilt mirrors and all of this really fancy stuff.
But you know what?
I bet in real life, she just had an office.
You know what I mean?
Just like a normal office.
But I think she did get to go to some fabulous events.
We'll hear more in just a second about the awesome events that she got to attend and get into some vocabulary.
But I am curious, did you ever work for anyone famous?
Because, as like an English teacher right especially abroad, we give private lessons and sometimes you can work for pretty amazing clients.
Did you ever have an experience like that?
I always wondered in New York if I was doing French tutoring, private French tutoring and I was wondering if sometime I would have a famous client.
I never did, but a good friend of mine was a nanny for someone very famous.
And it was interesting how she's like, no, it's the same as nannying for anyone else.
I never really see any like famous friends.
They treat their kids the same as the average parent.
Like it's not glamorous and it's really no different than it would be for anyone else.
It's interesting.
They just had to be more private about talking about that.
Sure.
I actually had a crazy experience when I was living in Cambodia.
I was hired to teach the 15-year-old daughter of a general.
So at the time when I was in Cambodia, there was no government basically.
They couldn't like decide on a leader.
So for most of the time I was there, there was no government.
So the country was ruled by these five generals, these military generals.
And so I got to go to the compound of one of them to teach his daughter.
And that was insane.
Like, like, so I had to go through this big gated thing.
And there were all these guards with like automatic weapons and like 10 you know black land cruisers or whatever.
Um and like, once I got into her room and was talking to her, it was kind of normal, she was just like a teenager, but everything around it was wild.
And then when I was in Taiwan also um, I tutored this pop star named Jolene.
I tutored, tutored her for a little bit.
Um, so I had I've had some pretty crazy experiences.
But anyway, let's get back to Jo and find out what she actually did in her job.
Well, in Prince William and Harry's office, I had to help with arrangements for various events.
So, for example, there was a big concert to mark the 10th anniversary of Princess Diana's death and also a memorial service.
So I helped to organize both those events as well as some others.
And then in Prince Charles's office.
I helped to organize many of his visits and engagements to outside organizations.
So, for example, if he went or if he planned to visit a hospital, I would go with a team of people to that hospital ahead of time and we would plan what he would do and who he would meet during the visit, you know, to make sure it would all go smoothly on the day.
You know, that sounds kind of stressful actually.
Like she had to keep track of a lot of moving pieces.
Yes, right.
At the time that she worked there, the princes were kids, adolescents.
I feel like from media, from seeing things about them when they were young.
They seemed like really nice boys, but who knows behind the scenes?
What do you imagine they're really like in real life?
Well, I would, I mean without knowing, if I didn't have any knowledge about it and I was just, you know, two little princes.
I would imagine them to be not very nice.
That may be really spoiled. spoiled and entitled and like throwing tantrums and stuff like that.
But on the other hand, they're British.
So maybe not.
But let's get back to Joe and find out what the princes were actually like.
Well, quite a lot, particularly with the two younger princes, Prince William and Prince Harry, because their office was a lot smaller than the Prince of Wales office.
They had less staff.
So I met them on a number of occasions and I found them to be really charming, very polite, very friendly, quite funny.
Very cool.
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Interesting.
All right.
Charming, polite, friendly, funny.
That's pretty much what you said, right?
Here's my next question.
Would those adjectives describe you, Aubrey, as a teenager?
I don't know.
I think I saw myself as polite and friendly.
And I do remember being funny, thinking I was funny, people thinking I was funny.
But I don't know if I was ever described as charming.
This is, I think, a difference between adolescence in the United States and in Britain.
I think in the UK, it is very...
You know, people want to be charming.
They want their children to be charming.
And I think there is more of a push for that than in the United States, which is kind of sad.
I love children that are charming.
I agree.
I agree.
Yeah, I don't think charming would describe most kids or teenagers here.
I mean, that doesn't mean they're not nice, but I wouldn't exactly say charming.
No.
Now, what about the royal family?
Are you a person who's interested in the royal family?
Because, I mean, even some Americans are obsessed with the royal family.
They were in love with Princess Di.
They know all about that story.
What about you?
Are you into knowing about the royal family?
No.
No.
But you're right.
A lot of Americans are they're fascinated, fascinated.
We do have write ups about them in the magazines here.
Definitely not the celebrity status in England.
But we know who they are.
We're aware of them.
We see them in the news.
But I don't follow their lives.
I don't really follow many celebrities' lives.
So I think if you really care a lot about celebrity gossip and what's happening with everyone in general, you also care about the royal family, wouldn't you say?
Yes, yeah.
I could see that happening because it's fun, right?
You're talking about people living the high life, and that's always fun.
That's why people love following celebrities.
So that is the first phrase that Jo is going to teach us today, guys, living the high life.
So let's go back to Jo and find out what that means.
To live the high life really means to have a very luxurious way of living.
And some people in the UK can criticize the royal family and say, oh, they just live the high life.
Their life is very easy.
They have all these luxuries.
But when I started working there, I was really surprised to see how hard they all work.
I mean, Prince Charles works every day of the year, even on holidays from morning to night.
Wow.
And, you know, he does that because he really wants to.
So he doesn't actually have to work as a prince, but he chooses to.
And he does that because, you know, he's very passionate about all these issues.
So that actually really surprised me, because there is this public perception that the royal family just live the high life.
That's a great phrase.
Aubrey, can you imagine yourself living the high life?
No, and I would not want to.
I've thought about this before.
I'll be like at the park with my kids, maybe like not wearing a bra.
It's a really good thing that paparazzi doesn't follow me around, because then I would have to wear makeup and do my hair and care more.
I don't want that life.
I want a very chill life with no one taking pictures of me.
It would be stressful, I think, on a lot of levels, right?
Your freedom is restricted.
And yeah, living the high life.
I guess that doesn't have to mean you're a celebrity followed by the paparazzi or whatever.
You could just be like uber rich.
But these days I feel like anyone who's uber rich for any reason is like in the news because there are so few of them, right.
And people want it.
Being.
A lot of people like the Kardashians are famous just because they're famous, just because they're rich.
And so I think it's hard to like go to the restaurants they go to and have that kind of money.
You just end up being in the news.
You end up in that scene with those people.
So it's hard, I think, to be really rich and stay out of the limelight.
I – yeah, I agree.
Ooh, in the limelight.
That's a great phrase, you guys.
Meaning you are – the press follows you, right?
In the limelight.
Yeah.
So let's go to the next phrase.
Being given something or things on a silver platter.
Like –
You're given things in the best, richest way sort of thing, right?
And it usually also means that you are receiving these things without having to work for it.
We use this phrase a lot to describe like kids that were born rich, right?
And then they didn't really have to do anything.
They were given life on a silver platter.
So let's go back to Jo to see what she says about this phrase.
If you can imagine being served things on a silver platter, platter.
It's very luxurious.
And it's like saying you get all these wonderful things, but you don't have to do a thing to get it.
I think we have another idiom for this as well, because maybe this is more of a British thing, right?
The silver platter.
I do hear Americans saying that sometimes, but I more often hear people talk about the silver spoon right.
Born with a silver spoon in your mouth, which that's even in a Beatles song on Abbey Road.
So the British must say it too.
And it's an old show, Silver Spoons, about kind of trust fund kids or something.
I never saw it, but I've heard of that show.
I forgot about that show.
That was like early 80s sitcom, right?
So that does make us feel a little bit young because we weren't watching that.
All right.
What's the next phrase?
Yeah, pump and ceremony.
So let's go to Jo and have her tell us what does this phrase mean?
Yes.
So one other expression is pomp and ceremony.
And I suppose this is quite a British expression and it's used when describing really exciting state celebrations, like a royal wedding, for example.
And you know, quite recently there was the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton and there was huge pomp and ceremony.
You know lots of music and celebrations and traditions and that's really what pomp and ceremony is all about.
Okay, so pomp and ceremony.
This isn't something I say often, but I probably don't talk about things that have lots of pomp and ceremony.
Do you use this phrase?
Yeah, not much.
I think just like you're saying, because I don't attend many events that are that fancy, right?
But I do feel like this is a little more of a British phrase than American also.
I think so.
Yeah, I do hear this in the news about royal events, especially if it's a British.
You know, if it's the BBC I'll hear them talk about the pomp and ceremony of of a parade.
Yeah, I think this phrase usually describes traditional events that harken back to.
You know, received culture from hundreds of years ago.
And the fact is America is a young country compared to England.
So we don't have –
That much pomp and ceremony tradition to go back to really like we never had a royal family like this is a part of our culture.
So I could see how this could be more of a British term.
I suppose I hear this in American English if we're describing like military funerals, maybe state funerals, like of a leader of a country, right?
So anything that's like super duper formal that observes established traditions and customs.
So again, that doesn't usually apply to American events.
All right.
So super cool.
Aubrey.
Let's go ahead and summarize these three phrases that we learned from Jo and her royal experience today.
So the first phrase was live the high life.
Aubrey, what does that mean?
Yeah, means you're going to fancy parties.
Maybe the press is following you around.
You probably have money.
Maybe you're a celebrity.
You're living a life in the public eye.
Yeah, I think, yeah.
I don't know if it has to be in the public eye though, Aubrey.
I think it's just, you're in the lap of luxury.
You're living a life of luxury.
When you use this phrase, does it always mean people that are like in the press?
I guess I do think of it that way.
You're right.
Interesting.
Can live the high life.
Really just going on a cruise, you could say, ooh, I'm living the high life.
But I do use this phrase sometimes because I think it's important to – like I think it's fun to pretend to live the high life sometimes.
So, like once in a while, James and I will go to like a super fancy dinner, or we'll get really dressed up and go see a play, or we'll stay one night in a really expensive hotel.
So just to have this little glimpse of living the high life, you know, like ordering room service.
So I think it's fun to pretend to live the high life.
That's a good point.
And it's sort of like in comparison, right?
If everything we're doing is pretty casual going to a fancy dinner we feel like we're living the high life.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Totally.
All right.
And then the next phrase was on a silver platter.
That means you are given things, nice things without having to work for them.
And then the last phrase, pomp and ceremony.
It just describes all of the elaborate decoration and tradition that goes along with formal events right that have been around for many, many years.
Okay, awesome.
That was really fun.
Maybe I'll go watch like a documentary on the royal family now.
Yes, right?
Something about Princess Di.
She was just so likable, I feel like.
Yeah, this was fun.
What a fun interview.
All right, Aubrey.
Have a wonderful day.
You too.
Bye.
Bye.
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