'My luxury life as a billionaire's nanny'

Kathryn Lord travelled the world working for mega-rich families as a nanny. But despite being told, "Don't say no to my child," she knew the importance of boundaries and has gone on to write books on parenting

- LARA KILNER

For eight years, Kathryn Lord, who comes from Lancashire, lived the high life, working as a nanny for some of the richest people in the world.

During her exciting career she experienced glittering cruise ships and apartment-sized bathrooms – and got to swim with sharks in the Maldives!

Here, the 35-year-old tells new about her amazing adventures and the skills she acquired that gained her royal approval…

My first job as a full-time nanny was for a family of Russian billionaires in London. They lived in a mansion in Belgravia filled with chandeliers and marble floors. Growing up in Lancashire, I’d never even heard of Belgravia and thought it was abroad, embarrassingly! And that was just their temporary home while they renovated another of their houses, adding a “billionaire’s basement” with a pool.

At my interview, they told me to come back three hours later to tutor their child and then asked me to start there and then. I’d only come to London for one night and had nothing with me, so my answer was pretty much, “OK, but can I go and buy some tights first?”

They called me their governess and I was expected to wear formal indoor and outdoor clothes. On my first night, the mum pushed me out of the door with her nine-year-old to take her to the pharmacy. They aren’t usually open on a Sunday up north, so I was confused, but they had three drivers on call and one of them called ahead to say we were coming.

Their young son had his own office to do homework and his own bathroom that was bigger than my apartment. Coming from a regular teaching job, it was all a shock to the system.