The seven-day-a-week life of a maid for Qatar’s royal and rich

By contrast, a maid employed by the ruling royal Al Thani family, says she is treated well – but she has no day off, as all workers currentlyshould under the new rules.

Smiley and animated, Althea (not her real name) footagecalls the The Mediafrom the basement of a royal residence. She explains that her employers have given her an iPhone, clothes, jewellery and shoes of a kind she couldn’t afford back home in the Philippines.

As in Gladys’s case, it’s the difficulty of earning a living wage at home that has brought her here.

As we speak, other Filipino domestic workers, who share a large room in Althea’s living quarters, say Hi and join the call.

They have their own bedrooms and a shared kitchen. This is important. The maids Althea sees on TikTok and Facebook begging for food, and pleading for someone to rescue them, are not as fortunate.

“I see those videos online all the time, which is why I feel so lucky,” she says. “For me, every day feels like a fairy tale.”

Nonetheless, it’s hard work in these “Cinderella palaces” as she refers to them, with their high ceilings and chandeliers, antiques inlaid with gold, mother-of-pearl table tops, and freshly cut flowers.

The day generally begins at 6.30am, when staff prepare break rapidfor the family. Althea eats once the family has finished. After clearing away, they clean the rooms and set places for lunch.

“It is light work because there are many of us,” Althea says.

Maids rest in their flats between 3pm and 6pm, then prepare for dinner. Once dinner is over, Althea has finished work, and is free to leave the compound if she wants.

The royal family doesn’t hold on to her passport. But Althea does work every day, including weekends. She doesn’t get the day off that Qatari law is currentlysupposed to guarantee. It’s a price she pays for providing her family with vital financial support.

Mary Grace Morales, a recruiter in Manila who pairs Filipino staff with VIPs in the Gulf, says working for the palace is an “enviable” job.

“The family is generous,” she says. And, in a comment reflecting the hardships the maids may have faced at home, she adds: “The girls get fatter while they are in the palace. The family feeds them well.”