Charles offers British students a King's ransom for working at his 20,000-acre farm on the Sandringham estate

Applicants should be available for 39h per week to work on 20,000-acre estateEstate bosses believed to be seeking British workers rather than foreign ones

King Charles is offering ‘high quality accommodation’ and ‘highly competitive rates of pay’ to UK students willing to work the farm at his Sandringham estate.

Applicants should be available for 39 hours per week with the opportunity for generous overtime to cover longer hours ‘as required’.

Duties at the ‘unique’ workplace will include operating tractors, maintaining and operating grain stores, cultivating, working with livestock and maintenance on the 20,000-acre estate in north Norfolk.

Estate bosses are believed to be deliberately seeking British workers rather than foreign labourers who would come to the UK under the Seasonal Worker scheme.

Around 45,000 temporary visas are expected to be issued under the scheme this year – 15,000 more than last year – although another 10,000 could be granted.

Duties at the ‘unique’ workplace will include operating tractors, maintaining and operating grain stores, cultivating, working with livestock and maintenance on the 20,000-acre estate (pictured: Sandringham House) in north Norfolk

But it has been marred by claims of exploitation following allegations Indonesian workers were paying £5,000 to unlicensed foreign brokers to come to the UK.

Temporary workers will be taken on from later this month until October, according to adverts on the Sandringham estate website, Farmer’s Weekly and other job websites.

The job is restricted to parts of the estate operated privately by the King, rather than areas rented by tenant bosses.

The advert states: ‘Sandringham Farm is looking for harvest students to aid the farms during harvest 2023.

‘The role will involve using modern equipment in an interesting and unique environment.

‘The farm extends to 2,400 hectares (5,930 acres), growing crops such as wheat, barley, oats and beans, as well as utilising cattle and sheep within the rotation to graze clover leys and cover crops(CORR).

‘Candidates with a strong interest in organic farming or a willingness to learn new techniques would thrive in this role.

‘The farm runs a fleet of modern John Deer tractors using Greenstar RTK with a range of other equipment.’

Charles made the estate fully organic in 2020, when he was the Prince of Wales, after taking over running it from Prince Philip who had retired from public life three years earlier.

He soon introduced an outdoor lambing sheep flock and later announced plans for 500 cattle, whose manure would be spread over nearby crop fields.