Firstly, my father had been a butler. I was raised in a household where butlering wasn’t a mystery—it was part of our everyday life. You could say it was in my DNA. Secondly, I had a remarkable mentor instantly on hand. That very Saturday afternoon, I had a three-hour crash course in the fundamentals of butlering—delivered by none other than my father himself. By that evening, I was on the job.

The third blessing? I discovered I was “to the manor born.” I absolutely loved the role. What’s not to love? Eighteen-hour days, six or seven days a week, surrounded by beauty and refinement—and the immense satisfaction of serving at the highest level. I had an epiphany: if one cannot afford to live in luxury, one might as well work in it.

What captivated me most was the attention to detail and the deeply holistic nature of the butler’s role. It calls upon so many different skills—culinary, aesthetic, managerial—and allows one to orchestrate service with finesse. There is a true artistry in this profession. The simplest tasks—presenting a perfectly pressed shirt, setting a breathtaking table, or turning down a bed with quiet precision—can offer tremendous satisfaction. Beauty, indeed, lies in the eye of the beholder.

My background helped too. I trained as an apprentice chef, qualified, and pursued a teaching certificate, along with a vocational hairdressing course—which, surprisingly, has proven useful on numerous occasions. Ironically, my mother had taken the same chef training and later also became a butler.

Would I change any part of this path? Absolutely not. Today, as a trainer and mentor to the next generation of butlers, I continue to find purpose. Witnessing students blossom into professionals who carry our standards forward—that is a blessing in itself.