Ready To Serve

Growing up in Wantage, the son of a welder and schoolmistress, Rick was fascinated by the films of the comedy duo, especially the bits which featured grand parties, with formal dress and glittering surroundings.

“I thought, I will never be able to afford that – how do you get into that? I saw the butler and thought ‘he’s there, he lives among that’,” says Mr Fink, 78.

He started his career as a Royal Navy steward. Since then he has had a lifetime of experience which has seen him rub shoulders with nobility, the rich, the famous and even royalty.

He has worked as a traditional butler in large estates, including that of the Honourable Charles Cecil, and as a freelance butler-valet who has served Queen Elizabeth, Princess Margaret, Prince Charles, Princess Anne and the late Princess of Wales, along with world leaders like France’s Giscard d’Estaing, Germany’s Helmut Kohl, UN general secretary Koffi Annan and numerous prime ministers from Douglas Hume to Tony Blair. “It’s such a privileged job at times,” he admits.

But – unfortunately - you won’t catch him telling tales. One of the most important attributes of a butler is discretion. Others are reliability, honesty, trustworthiness and devotion to duty.

“Your life revolves around your employers. My wife would say that’s absolutely true and that she never saw me – but that can’t be right as we have two sons,” he adds, with a twinkle in his eye.

“They grew up on a 3,000 acre Oxfordshire estate, every facility was there for them.” But after Graham, now 54 and chief creative officer of advertising and marketing agency Olgivy & Mather China based in Shanghai, and Andrew, 50, who runs the Fink Agency, went to university, he decided to go freelance rather than hold a live-in position.

“I wanted to possess things myself,” he explains. His skills put him in demand and 10 years ago he opened The Butler-Valet School at Ditchley Park, Winston Churchill’s wartime country retreat, near Chipping Norton, to pass on his knowledge.

“My main purpose is to elevate standards and show trainee butlers how things should be done with passion, confidence and flair,” says Mr Fink.

As well as training for traditional butling skills – it’s never butlering – he also teaches interior crews on superyachts and provides lessons on etiquette and social skills.

Students learn everything from making shoes shine like glass, taking care of fine cigars and carving meat to dressing room duties and organising formal dinners and shooting parties. Sometimes it’s the employers themselves who turn to him for advice. Members of overseas royal families have taken instruction on how to run their households and manage staff.

It’s something that Mr Fink thinks more of the newly wealthy should do. He said a lot of butlers nowadays have short stays on their CVs rather than the decades of service that used to be common. He puts that down, in many cases, to the behaviour of employers who are unused to having staff rather than the employees. He told of one employer who lost 16 members of staff in six weeks. “It’s not the staff, they are not all rubbish.”

Another planned new service is lessons for youngsters in things like table manners and how to wear their clothes correctly. “It’s something we have been asked about. Many children have terrible manners and there are a lot of rich parents who can afford to have them trained.”

And with expansion into Asia and new courses at the Rubens Hotel in London, Mr Fink continues his charming crusade to maintain standards. Abbott and Costello would be proud.

THINGS  TO KNOW ABOUT BUTLING

WHAT IS THE BUTLER’S DAY?

Mr Fink says a typical butler’s day in a country house would run as follows:
7.30am: Unlock house. Take boss morning tea or coffee. Lay out clothes.
8.30am: Make  and serve breakfast. Then clear up, press clothes, clean shoes etc. There may be several changes of clothes each day and baths to be run.
1pm: Lunch, followed by
shopping.
4.30pm: Tea.
8pm: Dinner.  There could be 12 for lunch, 16 for tea and 22 for dinner. As well as serving or supervising it, it’s the butler’s job to greet guests and serve pre-meal drinks.

WHAT SORT OF PERSON DOES IT?

About two-thirds of those at Mr Fink’s school are sent by their employers, while the rest finance the courses themselves, like current student Sebastian Wagenknecht, 40, from Austria. “I couldn’t find a suitable job as a chef and more employers are looking for multi-tasking so I’m doing it to increase my chances of getting a job,” he says.
About 300 students have attended The Butler-Valet School in the past 10 years. “I don’t think there is one that isn’t employed,” adds Mr Fink.

IS BUTLING FOR WOMEN?

“Women are being accepted a lot more now in a way they weren’t in the past,” asserts the aptly-named Lin Butler, of Kidlington, Mr Fink’s secretary who also does some butling on a freelance basis. “You get a house, somewhere to live and the wages are good. But I think it is more difficult as a woman,” she adds, referring to the often long and unpredictable hours. “You’d need a good husband at home.”

HOW WELL DOES THE JOB PAY?

A butler can earn £55,000 a year but that may not be with accommodation, says Mr Fink. Working in a country house would be likely to pay less as living quarters would be provided. He said a recent 20-year-old graduate had been given a two-bedroom cottage to live in, use of a car and a salary of £20,000 which would, with annual pay increases, be likely to rise to £30,000 by the time he was 30.

IS IT REALLY LIKE DOWNTON?

Mr Fink is a fan of the Downton Abbey television series? “It’s really good, everyone enjoys it,” he said. “The problem is I know the job, so there’s always something wrong with it. Ninety-nine per cent of the population can just enjoy it, it’s just the poor old butlers saying ‘they would never do that’.”
His particular bugbear is the wearing of white gloves by staff.
“Butlers don’t wear white gloves. In 60 years I have never worn them and they don’t at Buckingham Palace.”

HOW MUCH IS THE TRAINING?

A two-week course with accommodation at The Butler-Valet School costs £5,500 and there are various other options including bespoke training. For full details see Mr Fink’s site at www.butler-valetschool.co.uk