A Knightsbridge house for rent for nearly £1 million per year comes with the option of its very own Jeeves
Despite P. G. Woodehouse’s Jeeves being “a valet, not a butler”, Bertie Wooster noted: “If the call comes, he can buttle with the best of them”. At a house in London’s Knightsbridge, a future tenant need not worry as they have not only the option of a Buckingham Palace trained butler but also a live-in housekeeper with her own quarters included in the rent.
As was reported by GQ’s David Katz earlier this year, demand for butlers has soared in Britain and abroad as a result of “Downton Abbey syndrome”. The “.001 percent” are celebrating what he calls the ‘New Gilded Age’ by employing more and more staff and though there were just a few hundred butlers left in Britain thirty-five years ago, there are supposedly roughly 10,000 today.
A butler is expected to “see everything, but say nothing” and to keep their cool when dealing with “lunatic requests”. They generally change three times each day, are “either gay or divorced” and do not consider their role subservient. Katz concludes his article by stating:
“At this moment, a happy butler is harder to find than a needy billionaire. Which bestows the butler with something you’d never expect: power”.
Aside from considering that very point, the person who decides to rent the 3,428 square foot 3 bedroom, 3 reception room Egerton Crescent house will need very deep pockets: Agents Harrods Estates seek £18,500 per week, £80,167 per month or an especially astounding £962,004 per year.
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