Your chance to serve

If you have ever longed to carry a tray full of hard-boiled eggs and toasted soldiers through gilded salons then your dream could soon come true. Her Majesty is on the hunt for a trainee butler to fetch and carry at Buckingham Palace and other royal residences. But don’t expect to be paid a king’s ransom.

While the von Windsors have oodles of cash including some generous state benefits they’re not too hot on dishing it out. So, if money is not important to you then it might be worth applying. Having said that, if you want to get into the butlering game starting off at the palace might not be a bad start and will look great on the CV. According to the International Butler Academy, a butler in private service can earn up to £100,000 per year.

Being Jeeves to the Queen does come with some benefits though, including digs in Buckingham Palace. Hopefully, the part that has been refurbished and not the rooms with leaking pipes and drafty windows. I expect the hours will be long although this is not specified in the job ad on the Royal Household website. It just says that the successful candidate will be working five days out of seven.

The closing date for applications is 17th February. If officials don’t fill the vacancy, I can think of one person they could turn to, and that’s Prince Philip. I imagine he’s pretty bored in retirement now there are no longer any ribbons to cut or plaques to unveil and it will at least keep him off the roads.