A butler adjusting the collar of a morning coat

The Footman — About

About the Apprentice Butler Experience

Three hours in butler attire, learning the butler's etiquette

Queen's Butler — Definition

About About the Apprentice Butler Experience

The Apprentice Butler Experience is three hours at The Salon in Odaiba in which you wear the salon's genuine full morning coat and, accompanied by one Queen's Butler butler, experience the butler's role while learning their etiquette and manners. It is not a school.

One butler

One butler stays at your side throughout the three hours

The accompanying butler is your guide, moving through the same hours from changing to the commemorative photograph and demonstrating each gesture beside you. They open the door to welcome you, set your collar and tie, show you posture before the mirror, and at tea tell you briefly where to place your hands.

The butler does not simply show the answer first, but watches how you move and sets the line of the shoulders and the hands one by one. Both male and female butlers are in residence. If you have a preference, tell us when you apply and we confirm who will be on duty that day.

If it is your first time, begin with the weight of the morning coat and the feel of silver through white gloves. Rather than hurrying to correct a slip, the butler returns the tea things or the tray to where you can try again, so that you can repeat each gesture at your own pace.

In the dining room, five apprentices of various ages in morning coats practise the bow after the butler

Facts

The Apprentice Butler Experience at a glance

In the dining room, a woman apprentice in her sixties pours tea from a silver pot with the butler's hand guiding hers

Item	Details
Duration	3 hours (including changing)
Numbers	1 to 4 guests. Pair and family plans are available
Attire	The salon's genuine full morning coat (coat, waistcoat, shirt, tie, white gloves, shoes). Come empty-handed
Sizes	Men around 160 to 185 cm / women around 150 to 160 cm / shoes 24.0 to 27.5 cm. Please consult us in advance
Content	Deportment, the bow, brewing tea, handling silver, service, commemorative photograph
Keepsake	One item, such as a pocket watch
Fee	¥49,800 (tax incl.)
Who	Everyone (women and men alike)

Three hours

The aim of the three hours is to feel, in your own body, the reason for each gesture

The butler's gestures are a way of anticipating the other person's next move and preparing the door, the chair, the tea things and one's own position ahead of it. The Apprentice Butler Experience is not a place to gain a qualification or certificate, but a time to feel for yourself the weight of the morning coat, the tension of holding silver in white gloves, and how the air changes with the angle and pause of a bow.

Matching the form of the posture alone is no use if you are blocking the path your lady means to take. The butler shows you the line of your back in the mirror and, at the same time, where you stand as seen by the other person. In tea and service too, the sound of a piece set down, the direction it is offered, the speed at which the hand is withdrawn: everything is considered from the point of view of the person before you.

The photograph taken at the end is a record of the costume, and also of a bearing that has settled over three hours. There is no need to move correctly from the start. What matters is standing in the same scene as the butler, learning the reason, and moving once more.

An apprentice butler bowing beside the butler in the dining room

Learn more

Choose what you would like to check before the experience, to suit your purpose

For whom

As a gift or for an anniversary

When giving this to someone special, along with the wish to surprise them, please first confirm the height, build and shoe size needed to choose the costume.

Day flow

Know the order of the day for peace of mind

Knowing in advance the sequence of arrival, changing, the gestures, the photograph, the keepsake and departure lets you step through the door of an unfamiliar house at ease.

An apprentice butler with white gloves set

Deportment

Learn about the first gestures in detail

In deportment we check posture, walking and the distance at which to wait. Look not only at the form in the mirror, but at the relation between the direction your lady sets off in and where the butler stands.

From the door

From arrival to departure, the butler links five scenes

At the wardrobe, the butler sets the collar and white gloves of a male apprentice in his fifties while a young woman apprentice waits holding a top hat

Welcome at the door

The butler bows and takes your belongings. On a rainy day, damp clothes are put right before you are shown into the house.

Your wishes confirmed

We ask briefly what matters to you today: an admiration for butlers, an anniversary, a wish for photographs.

Changing

Coat, waistcoat, shirt, tie, white gloves and shoes are put on in order, and the view from the front and side checked in the mirror.

Deportment and the bow

Posture, walking, the distance at which to wait, and the angle and pause of the bow, compared between the butler's example and your own movement.

Tea, silver and service

The teapot, the three-tier stand, Christofle silver, the tray and glasses are handled according to the scene.

In the dining room, a mother and son apprentice lay silver and porcelain in the order the butler points out

Meaning

Each of the seven gestures has its reason, and the reason is the other person

Attire	The full morning coat is set right, and the line of the body suited to formal dress checked
Deportment	From posture, walking and the distance at which to wait, a position that does not block the other person's path
The bow	Through its angle and pause, turning one's heart to the other person before the body moves
Tea	Warming the pot, measuring, pouring and offering, linked by quiet hands
Silver	Handling Christofle in white gloves, and setting it on the table without leaving a fingerprint
Service	Handling tray and glasses, checking the other person's field of view and reach

Included in the experience

Changing into the full morning coat
One accompanying butler
The gestures from deportment through to service
A commemorative photograph inside the house
One keepsake, such as a pocket watch

To confirm in advance

Meals are not provided. You are welcome to bring your own food and drink
Please tell us your height, build and shoe size in advance
For two or more guests, please see the pair and family plans

Mansion

The furnishings of the house give each gesture its proper place

The experience in the house is not a matter of checking movements before a mirror alone, but of standing in the scenes where each gesture is called for as you move through the door, the corridor, the wardrobe and the dining room. At the double doors you learn the meaning of moving a step ahead; in the corridor, the distance at which to wait; in the dining room, where to set the tea things and silver.

At tea you stand before the teapot and the three-tier stand; with silver you handle Christofle in white gloves. The furnishings are not merely to be admired; they give rise to the movements with which a butler serves. The butler shows you how each is handled, then places it quietly in your hands.

The house is never let unattended. Throughout the experience the butler stays at your side and guides you whenever furnishings are to be moved. Meals are not provided, but you are welcome to bring your own food and drink.

At the double doors, a woman apprentice in her thirties practises opening the door and bowing as the butler looks on

Association

The butlers of Queen's Butler put the judgements of the moment into words

What the butlers of the Queen's Butler association value is not only showing a set form. They watch the pace at which their lady walks, her dominant hand, where her gaze falls, and change where they hold the door and how they offer a piece. In the experience too, they tell you briefly what they saw and how they judged it, there and then.

Men and women, younger butlers and those with years behind them, each have their own character in bearing and in the placing of the voice. Yet the attitude is the same: never hurry the other person, make no sound, never obstruct the next move. Look beyond the differences of form to the care at the root of each gesture.

If you wish to go over the gestures again after the experience, the Apprentice Butler Guide is there to read. It covers how to dress, the bow, tea, white gloves and what to bring on the day, so that you can look back on it together with your memory of the experience.

Apprentice Butler Guide

In the dining room, a family of grandmother, father, mother and daughter pose in morning coats for a commemorative photograph

Afterwards

After the experience, look back on what your hands remember with the guide

In the study, the butler shows a woman apprentice in her fifties the posture for writing a letter with a fountain pen

Morning coat

Look back on the attire, from the single button

Look back on the order in which coat, waistcoat, tie and white gloves were set at Queen's Butler, against your own figure in the photograph.

In the fireplace room, a son in his thirties, as apprentice, presents a gift to his mother while the butler looks on

Bow

Look back on the angle and pause of the bow

What the photograph rarely captures of the Queen's Butler experience is the pause before the bow begins and after the body returns.

At the wardrobe, apprentices in their twenties, forties and sixties choose morning coats as the butler hangs a jacket

Tea

Look back on the tea, cup by cup

From warming the pot, measuring the leaves and pouring the water to filling the cup and offering it: the guide lets you check the point at which your hands paused during the experience.

QCan I keep up with the gestures on a first visit?

Yes. The butler demonstrates each scene in turn and proceeds at your own pace. There is no need to learn the gestures in advance.

QCan women apply?

Yes. Applications are welcome regardless of gender. Smaller costumes for women are available. To confirm the costume, we ask your height, build and shoe size when you apply.

QWill I gain a qualification to become a butler?

This is not an experience that awards a qualification or certificate. It is three hours of contact with the butler's attire and gestures, and the reasons behind them.

QCan I come empty-handed?

Yes. The morning coat, waistcoat, shirt, tie, white gloves and shoes are provided by the house. As sizes and types are limited, please consult us in advance.

QHow is this different from The Salon?

At The Salon, the butler waits at your side and serves you. In the Apprentice Butler Experience, you wear the attire yourself and learn the gestures from the butler's side.

QCan two or more people apply?

For two or more guests, please see the pair and family plans (2 guests ¥89,800, 3 guests ¥128,800, 4 guests ¥159,800). We ask everyone's height, build and shoe size and confirm the combination of costumes before advising.