Royal Family wastes no time in showing Princess Margaret's staff the door

The job titles are exotic and some of the perks can be very lucrative. But, as Princess Margaret's staff has just found out, the Royal Family can be quite brutal in the way it dispenses with its servants.

Less than a month after the Princess's death, 10 of her staff have been made redundant and ordered out of their grace-and-favour apartments at Kensington Palace. Some are seeking council accommodation.

Among those to go are some of the oldest-serving retainers of the household: David Griffin, a chauffeur for 30 years; Kevin Martin, a chef who cooked for the Queen for 10 years before switching to Margaret; and the butler, Harold Brown, who also worked for Diana, Princess of Wales. Other casualties include Sandra Morgan, Christine Byrne and Marie Hill, who were variously employed as dressers and housemaids.

The Royal Family refuses to discuss the severance terms for the staff, but they are believed to reflect the amount of time they worked for Princess Margaret. Mr Martin and one other worker are said to be angry that their packages do not take into account their years in royal service before moving to Kensington Palace.

Two of the 10 made redundant have been offered alternative posts in the Royal Household. Mr Brown has been told that he can work for Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. But, according to his friends, he is considering a career as a freelance butler instead. The prospect of being at the beck and call of Princess Michael, whose nickname is "Princess Pushy", does not usually invite a stampede of volunteers.

Mr Brown, 48, has other distractions at present. He faces an Old Bailey trial charged with stealing jewellery and valuables belonging to the late Princess of Wales. Her former butler, Paul Burrell, faces separate charges of stealing from her.

The severances were officially the responsibility of Sir Michael Peat, the Keeper of the Privy Purse. Buckingham Palace insisted that the redundancies were inevitable.

A spokesman said: "They were employed to work for Princess Margaret, and the death of the princess meant that these jobs no longer existed. But efforts are being made to relocate a few of them. The others are being given three months' notice in work or payment, and the same notice is being given for job-related accommodation."

The Palace refused to discuss the financial arrangements, but the people made redundant are believed to have been earning between £18,000 and £25,000 a year. The Royal Family has a reputation as a mean payer and it was only last year that junior porters, housemaids and coachmen saw their pay rise from £9,000 a year to £14,500.

In the light of growing public scepticism towards the monarchy, the Palace is keen to be seen to modernise. But one gets a glimpse of the arcane world by the titles of the staff – Yeoman of the Pantries, Maid to the Coffee Room, and Page of the Backpassage, also known as Page of the Backstairs.

Perks for some staff include free television licences, free shoe repairs and free soap.