“Downton Abbey” but with NDAs: how to be a butler to the super-rich

Inside the elite college that’s reinventing Jeeves for the 21st century

By Will Coldwell

In the frescoed ballroom of the International Butler Academy (TIBA) in the Netherlands, a gaggle of students shuffled into line. “You may have walked in a certain way for 25 years, but this is not how you do it as a butler,” said their etiquette instructor, addressed by everyone as Mr Munro. He ordered them to slot their arms behind wooden crosses, which they held against their spines – “torture devices” to correct posture. “Now relax!”

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