Butlers

The Independent is reporting a crisis in the supply and demand of household man-servants.
The Guild of Professional Butlers is now reporting an explosion in the numbers of super-rich households who want to be waited on hand and foot.

There simply are not enough butlers .

Charles MacPherson, the vice-chairman of the International Guild of Professional Butlers explained . "If we doubled the number of butlers, they wouldn't be without work,"

Jane Urqhart, the principal of the Greycoat Academy which trains butlers, said that demand for "good butlers" was soaring.

"What's happened is that there has been a growth among those people with a lot of money who want to emulate the old traditions, such as having a butler. So they buy the manor house but they also want to hire someone from the days when the house was staffed by a butler..."

Ivor Spencer, 81, a butler with service in 14 of the grandest houses in England, runs a butler-training school and agency. He says that one can still expect certain standards from a butler .
Mr Spencer warns: "You must never do it just for the money. You must put the family before your own family."