The butler’s role has changed – and seasoned ones can make $190K a year

In Britain’s bucolic Cotswolds region, the arrival of summer is typically marked by a migration. Specifically, the return of a rarefied group to grand country houses in counties such as Oxfordshire or Gloucestershire, where preparations begin for a season of hosting guests at picnics, luncheons and events like the Chelsea Flower Show, the Royal Ascot horse races and “the tennis” – shorthand for a centre court box at Wimbledon.

Owners of those country estates – let’s call them the richest 1 per cent of the 1 per cent – of course do not handle such preparations themselves. These are relegated to butlers, whose job, like for others associated with the lifestyles of the ultrawealthy, has evolved.