A butler arranging silverware in the Dining Room

The Footman — Programme

The Apprentice Butler Programme

Seven elements: five skills, a commemorative photograph and a keepsake

Queen's Butler — Definition

About The Apprentice Butler Programme

The Apprentice Butler Programme comprises seven elements: the five skills you touch upon in three hours, together with a commemorative photograph and a keepsake. In deportment, the bow, the making of tea, the handling of silverware and service, one butler stands beside you, demonstrates each movement and puts its reasons into words.

Seven

The seven elements

In the Dining Room, five apprentices of all ages in morning coats practise the bow after their butler

Deportment

Posture, the walk, the distance at which to wait. A butler is most a butler when doing nothing at all.

The Bow

Angle and pause. Why the line of the back holds even in a deep bow.

In the Dining Room, an apprentice in her sixties pours tea from a silver pot with her butler's hand guiding hers

III

Making Tea

The teapot and the three-tier stand. Warm, measure, pour, present.

In the Dining Room, a mother and son lay out silverware and porcelain in the order their butler indicates

Handling Silverware

Christofle Marly in white gloves. How to hold and set down without leaving a fingerprint.

In the Fireplace Room, an apprentice in his seventies carries tea on a silver tray while a young woman apprentice sits in the role of the host

Service

A tray and a glass. Walking without disturbing the surface of the water.

Commemorative Photograph

In a scene of the Manor, your butler presses the shutter.

VII

Keepsake

One item to take home, such as a pocket watch.

Sequence

Once you are dressed, the seven elements proceed from the skills to the record

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

Element	What we check	Tools and setting
Deportment	Posture, the walk, the distance at which to wait	The mirror and the gallery
The bow	Turning to face the other person, the angle, the pause	Standing beside your butler
Making tea	Warm, measure, pour, present	The teapot and the three-tier stand
Handling silverware	Holding without leaving a fingerprint, setting down without a sound	Christofle and white gloves
Service	Distance from the other person, carrying posture, where to present	A tray and a glass
Commemorative photograph	Costume, standing figure, the scene that stayed with you	The furnishings of the Manor
Keepsake	A gift by which to look back on the three hours	One item, such as a pocket watch

How each element proceeds is shaped by your butler according to how you are and what you wish on the day.

Method

Your butler demonstrates beside you and puts the reason briefly into words

The experience proceeds as an exchange: the butler demonstrates a movement first, you take your place in the same scene, and you confirm it with your own body. Where the form differs, we choose one of shoulders, hands or feet, and explain briefly why it belongs in that position.

What a butler of Queen's Butler, a general incorporated association, observes is not the shape of the movement alone. Watching the direction you walk, your dominant hand, the hand reaching for a vessel and your line of sight, we change where we stand and the direction in which we present. During the experience we tell you what we saw and how we judged it.

Both male and female butlers are available. Though the standing figure that suits each body and voice may differ, the attitude is shared: never hurrying the other person, never blocking their way, arranging things quietly. Please begin with movements that come naturally to you.

In the wardrobe, apprentices in their twenties, forties and sixties choose morning coats while a butler hangs up a jacket

How it connects

The five skills lead from standing to receiving, presenting and carrying

In the wardrobe, a butler adjusts the collar and white gloves of an apprentice in his fifties while a young woman apprentice waits holding a top hat

Stand

After composing your posture before the mirror, you walk the gallery and learn how to wait without blocking the host's way.

Turn to face

You turn your body to the other person and come to stillness before entering the bow. We value not only the angle but the pauses before and after.

Prepare a cup

You warm the teapot, measure, pour and present. We also look at the position of the three-tier stand and the direction of the cup.

Handle the silverware

Wearing white gloves, you learn to hold the Christofle without leaving a fingerprint and to set it down without a sound.

Carry and present

Holding a tray and a glass, mindful of your feet and the surface of the water, you carry them to within the other person's reach.

At the double doors, a butler watches as an apprentice in her thirties practises opening the door and bowing

Viewpoints

Across the seven elements, your butler looks at three things: form, the other person and the tools

Form	Whether posture, angle, the position of the hands and the line of the costume connect without strain
The other person	Whether you are obstructing the direction the host will move, the place their hand will reach or the line of their gaze
Tools	Whether the teapot, three-tier stand, silverware, tray and glass are being handled quietly
Distance	Whether there is room to move safely between you and the door, the gallery and the table
Pause	Whether there is a stillness before and after the bow or the act of presenting that does not hurry the other person
Record	Whether the dress and skills composed over three hours are bound together in the photograph and the keepsake

Included in the three-hour price

A full morning coat
One butler accompanying you
The five skills
A commemorative photograph within the Manor
One keepsake, such as a pocket watch

Not included in the price

Meals are not served. You are welcome to bring your own food and drink
For two or more, please see the pair and family plans

Mansion

The furnishings of the Manor make concrete the scenes in which each skill is used

The experience at the Manor is not a matter of repeating movements in the air, but of standing in the scenes that call for them: before the door, the gallery, the mirror, the Dining Room and the tools on the table. At the door we consider the way through; in the gallery, the distance at which to wait; at the table, where the host's hand will reach.

In the tea scene you handle the teapot and the three-tier stand; in the silverware scene, the Christofle; in service, a tray and a glass. Your butler takes up each tool first, shows its weight and direction, and then passes it to your hands. Do attend to the feel through the white gloves and to the sound as each vessel is set down.

The Manor is never hired out unattended. Your butler remains at your side and guides you through every scene in which the furnishings are handled. Meals are not served, though you are welcome to bring your own food and drink.

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

QAre all seven elements skills?

No. The skills are five: deportment, the bow, tea, silverware and service. Together with the commemorative photograph and the keepsake, we present the programme as seven elements.

QCan I experience everything even as a complete beginner?

Yes. One butler demonstrates each movement beside you and guides you through them one by one. There is no need to learn any of the skills beforehand.

QWhat if there is a movement I find difficult?

That is quite all right. Your butler will find a posture and hand position that suit you. Rather than hurrying to match the form, begin from the reason behind it: consideration for the other person.

QIs the programme the same for women?

Yes. We guide you through the same seven elements. Both male and female butlers are available, and together we compose a standing figure that suits your own body.

QMay two or more people apply?

For two or more, please see the pair and family plans (¥89,800 for two, ¥128,800 for three, ¥159,800 for four). We ask everyone's height, build and shoe size and confirm the combination of costumes.

QWhich scene may I choose for the commemorative photograph?

Simply tell your butler which skill stayed with you during the experience. We arrange the costume, posture, hands and distance from the furnishings, and take the photograph.

From movement to memory

After the five skills, the photograph and the keepsake bind the three hours together

The commemorative photograph records not only your figure in costume, but the way of standing, the hands and the gaze composed through the five skills, together with the furnishings of the Manor. Your butler checks the hem of the coat, the white gloves and where you stand, and sets once more the scene of the skill that stayed with you.

After the photograph, we present one keepsake, such as a pocket watch. The item in your hand and the photograph become reminders of the weight of the teapot, the quiet as the silverware was set down, and the pauses before and after the bow.

Even the movements you found difficult become treasured memories in the end. Rather than judging only whether you did well, look back with your butler on the moment your movement changed because you were watching the other person. You then change back into your own clothes and proceed to the bow at the door.

In the Fireplace Room, a son in his thirties, as an apprentice, presents a gift to his mother while a butler looks on

Queen's Butler

Through the seven elements, you touch upon a butler's way of seeing the Manor

Rather than treating each skill in isolation, the Queen's Butler programme links everything from the door to the table, the photograph and the farewell through consideration for the other person. The distance confirmed in standing carries into service; the pause confirmed in the bow carries into the standing figure of the photograph.

One butler of Queen's Butler, the general incorporated association that operates Queen's Butler, accompanies you and tells you what to change on seeing the person before you. Rather than hurrying towards the same form, begin by choosing your movements for the sake of the other person.