Born to serve
‘Downton Abbey’ and the booming modern butler industry
● Some say it’s the Downton Abbey effect; others attribute the surprisingly rude health of Britain’s butler industry to the rise in foreign high-net-worth individuals putting down roots there and seeking to buy themselves a lifestyle befitting their status.
Either way, business is booming for British butlers, even if today’s Bertie Woosters are more likely to hail from Russia, Kazakhstan or the United Arab Emirates than an English village.
Statistics published this week by Greycoat Lumleys, a recruitment consultancy, show that the wages of live-in butlers in London have increased by 8.2% in two years, hitting an average of £43 000 pa (about R714 000). Live-out butlers can command an average of £45 000 a year — 14.2% higher than in 2016.
The news comes as no surprise to Paola Diana, the founder of Nanny & Butler, an agency that provides butlers and other household staff to the very wealthy. Indeed, the figures look conservative against the £80 000 to £150 000 salaries she says a good butler can earn today, with demand outstripping supply.
“The British butler is a status symbol; it’s iconic,” she explains when I meet her at her plush office near Hyde Park. Her clients are frequently foreign: Kazakhs, Russians and Saudis, yes, but also French and Swiss.
While some “old” British families — “the nobles with country houses”— still keep butlers, the numbers are dwindling precisely because of the dizzying sums they now cost, Diana explains.
By September, the number of high-networth individuals in the UK had grown to 568 000 from 553 000 in 2015, according to research by Capgemini, a business consultancy. And while frequent foreign travel comes with the territory, many want a butler to keep their affairs in order in their absence, as well as when they’re in town.
“These kind of people, they travel constantly, so maybe on paper they’re based here but they [also] have the yacht in the south of France, for instance,” says Diana of the modern-day “principal”, or employer. “Then in winter, they have the chalet in Gstaad or St Moritz, so they spend time there, or maybe go to America, to Aspen, and then a festival in California.”
If it sounds exhausting, spare a thought for the contemporary Jeeves, left to multitask his way around his principal’s property.
Today’s Bertie Woosters are more likely to hail from Russia, Kazakhstan or the UAE than an English village
“A good butler is sometimes also now a crossover with the house manager in many households,” says Diana of a role that involves hiring and paying staff, ensuring the maid, housekeeper, governess and chef are doing their jobs to the highest standard, and ensuring any social events hosted at home conform to the expectations of the family.
The butler will also be required to handle technology for his principal. “Today, you’re given amobile phone . . . and have every contact in the book,” says George Telford, 62, who, having worked as a butler since his 20s, knows only too well how the job has changed. Telford now trains young butlers.
“Since Downton Abbey, the Middle Easterns, Russians and Chinese are all looking for a British butler,” he says. “But there’s a big difference between the traditional butler and today’s ones, who are more like PAs.
“Traditional butlers, we did everything from valet to meet and greet, whereas today’s butlers don’t do the valet work, the packing and unpacking, they become like a PA. They may travel with the principal, may book airline tickets and hotels, but as for looking after them frommorning till night . . . I don’t think it’s happening so much today.”
What does it take to be a good butler? “It’s like getting married,” Telford says. “You have to build a bond with the principal, and that builds trust. You become part of him and his life, so he relies on you for everything.”
Telford has firm views on what the role encompasses — and the sacrifices: “When you take on a butler role, you must remember you’re taking on a role for that household. You don’t have a social life. You’ve got to be committed. Your principal is never going to be your friend, he is always going to be your boss and you mustn’t cross that line.”
Yet some do. “Today’s butlers say ‘Yeah, I work for Christopher down the road’, and I say ‘It’s sir or madam at all times and you must remember that’,” says Telford.
Diana agrees. “They need to have impeccably good manners, of course.”
Telford goes further: “It’s got to be in your blood,” he says. “You’ve got to be born to serve.”