Royal Watch News

Queen Noor of Jordan's gardener's claims

May 3, 2012, 12:01 GMT

Queen Noor of Jordan

Queen Noor of Jordan's former gardener was asked to grow exotic plants in a bid to force her out, a tribunal has heard.

Amanda Hill - the former head gardener at Queen Noor's Windsor home - claims she was intimidated, isolated and bullied out of her position after being refused a pay rise because she was a woman, so she was made to grow plants that wouldn't survive in the UK.

The 52-year-old gardener - who claims she was given different jobs because she was female - said she had contacted Queen Noor personally about the upset over her pay, but was met with criticisms about her gardening skills.

Speaking at an employment tribunal in Reading, Berkshire, Hill said she had worked on the grounds for 15 years but after undergoing a breast enlargement operation she found some tasks more strenuous.

However, she claimed her conflict with her employers had only started after she attempted to help male colleague Danny Welland negotiate a pay rise.

She said: 'It started with the fact that I asked for Danny Welland to have a pay rise.

'I was told at the meeting with Sharon Kelly [Queen Noor's personal assistant] that if Danny Welland got a pay rise I would as well, the difference between us was so small that she could not give him a pay rise and not myself as well.

'He was a man, he was stronger than me - it was relayed to me time and time again.'

She then claimed she was treated differently and was ordered by acting estate manager Caroline Migdadi to start growing exotic plants including mangos and avocados in the kitchen garden.

When she warned it was impossible to do so in the UK, she was told in a 'threatening manner' that she should 'tell that to Her Majesty Queen Noor'.

She decided to leave her post in January last year and took up a new job that March.

Hill is now suing the company which runs the estate, Panama-based Ambassador Marine Corporation (AMC), for sex discrimination and constructive dismissal.

The tribunal continues.