Wooden Spoon brand is part of this new book

We received a call from the operations manager of St James’s House, with a no-caller-id and hence no option to call back. The conversation started with instructions for strict confidentiality. Prior to the publication we were not allowed to disclose any information made available to us during the whole process related to the book.  This secrecy added a pinch of romance to our fairy-tale.

Despite our dedication to produce the cleanest cosmetic care we still could not believe that we were among the chosen ones.

After the confidentiality instructions he told us about the project and its author – Robert Jobson.

Robert Jobson is one of the most renowned royal editors with many published books and television broadcasts on the Royal family. He joined Prince Harry and Meghan (the Duke and Duchess of Sussex) in all their royal duties and visits. He also accompanied the royal couple during their long stay in Africa together with son Archie.

Robert Jobson was very impressed by our brand and our company values. Wooden Spoon was officially invited to be included in the forthcoming royal book for the high quality of our products made from organic and edible ingredients but also for the company policies regarding the protection of the environment.

It seemed that our company was thoroughly researched. During the first conversation they quoted phrases from the numerous interviews given by our co-founder, Silviya Pavlova, in the Bulgarian media. We learned that our company received “the blessing” to be included in the book from the “very top”. We also received an invitation to participate in the official book launch to be held on the 6^th May 2020 (Archie’s birthday) at the Ritz Hotel, London.

This is how it all began. The official invitation to take part in the book was titled „The Royal Baby“.

We received another pile of papers to sign before the next step – the interview with royal correspondent Robert Jobson. Due to his very busy work schedule we had to patiently wait for the interview to be arranged. The duties of the royal correspondent of the then Senior Royals occupy a big portion of his time so it was very hard to predict when he would be in London and available for the interviews. We waited for more than 3 months and at the end of January the meeting with the SJH director and Robert Jobson was eventually arranged. The assistant to the director sent us an email proposing three locations for our accommodation. They were three 5-star private houses available on special appointment only. We chose the one in the artistic district of west London – Soho.  

Nothing in the façade was extraordinary – rather another ordinary British brick house. The lobby was standard and quite simple. Our invitations and passports were checked on arrival.  A few phone calls followed to reconfirm our accommodation. Then we were instructed in detail about what could and what could not be done in the house. We were told that we had cards permitting access to approximately 30% of the house. We signed a document to agree that under no circumstances we would use our phones outside our room and that breaking this rule could lead to serious consequences. With the cards supplied to us we could use one of the lifts only that would stop on our floor. We could also use part of the spa area, the gym and one of the restaurants. Finally they gave us the cards and opened the doors of the lobby to the house. We entered a different world.

The room welcomed us with a big bowl with ice, a fruit basket and an exquisite cocktail-bar loaded with various brands of whiskey, bourbon and cocktail liquor. We studied every part of the room with enormous curiosity. We had 3 types of robes: silk to wear in the room, aero-cotton for the bath and linen for the spa area. Linen bags for the shoes for the butler to collect, shine and return in 15 minutes. The cosmetic corner was filled with full-size organic cosmetic products, all for sensitive skin care.

The next morning we met the royal correspondent and the director of the publishing house in the lobby. They led us to the “forbidden” area of the house. The interview lasted for over 2 hours, though it seemed like 10 minutes. We talked about Wooden Spoon, about Harry and Meghan, about our common understanding on the protection of the environment, about the support Meghan wanted to give to women-entrepreneurs, about our dreams, about the road we walked to get here and about the future. We were invited for lunch on the roof of the house where Robert Jobson showed some photographs of his trip to Africa with Harry and Meghan. He told us, choosing his words carefully, about the cute prince Archie and the challenges of a free-spirited American woman in the rigid and conservative Royal court. The meeting ended wishing us a safe journey back home.

All the dresses and outfits were ready, etiquette protocols for proper behavior during formal dinners duly studied. It does sound exciting because it is, but it meant a lot of work and preparation too. Only two months were left to the event when the lockdown in Europe happened. The hope that soon everything would go back to normal gradually faded away with each passed week. The publishers announced they would delay the book to arrange for a more appropriate and safe date for travel. Unfortunately, the pandemic did not seem to end soon. Archie’s birthday came (6^th May) and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did return to the UK as they had promised but the birthday was celebrated by close family only. A month later we received a letter saying that they would not delay any more and proceed with the publication.

We are closing this page now to focus on our main professional task: to produce very high quality products; to strive to become the most honest and loved cosmetic brand; to protect the environment with all possible measures; to be a preferred employer.

And to be content and happy with our work…which is very easy when you believe that what you do makes a difference for the future health of the children – our most delicate customers today.