- A professional butler is somebody who is loyal,
flexible, discreet, hard-working, honest,
but most important, it is a person
who has the ability to put somebody else's wishes
before your own.
That is what makes this a profession
so very, very difficult.
At the age of 21, I became a butler.
Nowadays, I am chairman of the International Butler Academy.
The International Butler Academy is located
in the beautiful village of Simpelveld
in the Netherlands.
You have about 135 rooms,
80,000 square feet completely dedicated
to the training of butlers.
Our students live here in our building.
They come, literally, from every country in the world.
Age from 18 to 68.
- Okay, five minutes, guys.
- Students learn about housekeeping,
house management, estate management, regular things,
like even suitcase packing, silver shining,
shining shoes, the list is enormous.
There's an incredible amount of training
to be done in 10 weeks.
Discipline here at the International Butler Academy
is very, very important.
In order to get a job done, you need discipline.
I think in order to be successful, you need discipline
and discipline here at school is something
we embrace and not something that we are afraid of.
Here at school we always joke about what employers want.
They need a clean toilet.
They want a warm bed and they want a hot meal
and those three things are most important for everyone.
- [Butler] You go right, you go left.
- [Robert] My wife and I, we have our own butler.
I'm very fortunate; I've had a private butler
now for the past 17 years and this person
is very, very important to me.
Being a butler can certainly be a wonderful career
simply because if you are responsible
for the well-being of the family,
for their happiness, that is obviously
very, very, very important.
(uptempo regal music)