Wanted: Butlers for the Nouveau Riche

LONDON, June 4, 2007 — -- Earlier this year, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair made headlines in the United Kingdom when he advertised for a "house manager" for his Downing Street residence.

According to the ad -- the first of its kind -- the lucky candidate would be responsible for looking after "the antiquities and silverware, preparing front of house staff," making sure that "VIP guests" feel well cared for, and maintaining "world class customer standards."

The ad, newspaper editors griped, sounded like a throwback to the past. The prime minister was, in fact, advertising for the old-fashioned services of a butler, they said.

If so, the now ex-prime minister was only the latest in a long line of privileged people in the United Kingdom and the United States who have begun to realize that life without the attentions of a butler is simply not worth living.

So much so that the latest figures from the International Guild of Professional Butlers (based in New York and the Netherlands) show that the demand for butlers is outstripping the supply.

The reasons behind this sudden growth are tied to the proliferation of millionaires in cities from London to San Francisco to Shanghai. Quite simply, "There are more millionaires in the world than ever before," as Ivor Spencer, founder of the world's first "butling" school, told ABC News.

And, according to Spencer, "85 percent of our new clients are the new rich" or nouveau riche.

Stephanie Storey, managing director of Greycoat Placements, which trains wannabe butlers, echoed his comments, pointing out a "noticeable rise in Russian clients."

"Even in London," Storey told ABC News, "a large number of our clients are overseas nationals -- from the Middle East and Russia."

According to both Spencer and Storey, there's never been a better time to be a butler. Demand is high, and with a starting salary of $100,000 a year (according to Spencer) plus the added perks of free health care, room and board, there are certainly worse ways to earn a living.