Do the aristocracy have staff?

[Mamarsupial]

Just been watching the original 70s series of Upstairs Downstairs.

Obviously the world has changed, but there are still a few old aristocratic families (and a lot of ultra-rich in new money as well). I imagine they have staff- but what sort of staff? I’m guessing not parlour and scullery maids - but then, surely somebody does their laundry? Who?
What about butlers? Do they live in? How do they address their employers?
So many questions! Does anyone know?

Yes they do have staff but not as many as in the olden days. A lot of stuff that the staff would do back then is outsourced nowadays, a cleaner would come in for a few hours, there are various laundry services who will pick up your laundry and then return it clean and pressed, luxury car services instead of having a permanent chauffeur etc.

The local Lord has staff. Not butlers or parlour maids though.

From memory there are housekeepers, cleaners, cooks (not chefs), a handyman, gardeners, (one doubles as a driver) grounds and gamekeepers, overseen by a major domo (nice chap).

I work with clients who are SUPER rich and most of them have a housekeeper and a PA and that’s about it.

Low key, but yep.

We’re not aristocracy, but both have good jobs, and we have;

Housekeeper
Nanny
Cleaners
Gardener
Handyman

Who work for us every week.

I think most of the aristocracy in the gosford park/upstairs downstairs sense now have been kneecapped by inheritance tax, so they don’t tend to have domestic staff, but instead the houses are open to the public so there are guides, cafe staff, ticket office staff etc?

If you look at Chatsworth for example, the Duke and Duchess live in a small flat at the back of the house, and look after themselves. Then there’s cleaning staff who do the main house that’s open to visitors, and cooks in the restaurant and cafe kitchens etc. Longleat and Arundel run the same way - a section of the less interesting rooms are converted to a smaller family home whilst the majority of the house is open to the public.

a friend of mine works in land management and told me that even the houses turning a big profit from visitors have relatively small margins because of the massive running costs of the buildings - you have to heat them to avoid damp getting to artwork and antiques and things, but the heating bill alone is 6 figures and that was before the economic crisis. On the documentary about Chatsworth, they needed the roof and windows repairing and that was going to cost millions of pounds.

I suppose if a house has been in your family for 1000 years you can’t be the one to let it go to shit!

Jimmy Carr has a butler

Buttling still seems to be a career.

Gardeners, house keepers, cleaners all exist. Don't think it's as formal as it was pre ww1

Fascinating! No live-in staff then (except perhaps nannies?). More like contracting people in.

Makes you wonder how anyone ever afforded to maintain their huge mansion estates.

what does your housekeeper do?

Well plenty of rich properties on rightmost has staff accommodation so I think some households still have live in staff.

I'd love a housekeeper.

Ooh yes, butlering is still a thing, look: nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/butler

Listed under current opportunities is a course in Hospitality and Events Management. Wonder what Hudson would have to say to that! 😄

Organises the other staff, sets their work and so on.

It’s not a full-time position and she only works with us when we’re in our main home.

I think it depends. I’m good friends with the local Sir and Lady of the manor here. I can assure you that both work and have baby sitters not nannies, no butlers and are generally less well off in liquid assets than me.

I think it depends on whether great uncle Quentin pissed the money up the wall and had to sell the pile to the National Trust or not.

DHs aunt has a housekeeper. She lives in and tidies, does basic cleaning, shops, runs errands, does a lot of cooking and washing. Basically a sort
of house wife role. Cleaners and gardeners also work at the house and do the heavy stuff.

Not aristocracy, however I contract out as many jobs as possible.

Cleaner

Ironing lady

Dog walker

Gardener.

Window cleaning.

We have the income, so why not.

My DH appears to have a PA and Social secretary. Me I do pay myself from central funds.😁

Love the people come on to say ‘I’m not aristocracy / landed gentry, but this is what I do….’

But it's not hiring them full time, that's different I think.
We also have pool guy/gardener etc but they come on a regular basis, it's not like we pay them 9-5 salaries; that's a proper way of having 'staff'.

We did have a live in nanny but it's not really that out there these days.

I think when people have a butler employed full time that's closer to aristocracy 😄 Or a driver dedicated just to your family - full time.

I guess a mix of staff

Friends of ours have titles and an enormous manor house a few hours from London, where they live most of the time. It’s not as big as Downton but it’s got 20+ bedrooms and probably 15 bathrooms. My friends go there as much as they can and they host a lot of guests. It is an enormous amount of work and they do a lot of it themselves but they still have some staff. There is a husband and wife couple who stay on the property and take care of maintenance/upkeep and manage the gardeners and cleaner. The house has really elaborate gardens so they have a full-time gardener and a part-time helper plus seasonal help as needed. There is a housekeeper who lives in another cottage on the property and cleans the house, and when they are there she will do things like set up lunch for a group (but my friend will cook). They sometimes bring their nanny up from London but not always. My friends do all of the cooking and dishes and clean up after themselves but the housekeeper sends the sheets out to be laundered, readies guest rooms, and dusts the rooms when they are not in use. A hundred years ago this place would have had countless footmen, butlers, valets, ladies’ maids, kitchen staff. My friends coke from a lot of money but i don’t think they’d be able to afford that kind of help, plus I thinh these days people actually enjoy doing (or being seen as doing) things with their kids and don’t necessarily like having other people lurking in their private spaces all the time.

I have a friend who married into the aristocracy and lives in the ancestral Manor House. They don't have any live in staff but do have part time gardening and cleaning help. My lovely friend and her husband work incredibly hard maintaining the house and running a business from it.

@Mamarsupial if you’re interested there is a podcast called Duchess hosted by a Duchess (can’t remember her name) and she interviews other members of the aristocracy about their stately homes.

They will often talk about the staff they have (both then and now).

It’s also got a lot about the history of the house and the work involved in the upkeep.

My friend is a house keeper 3 days a week for a wealthy family (husband and wife both surgeons). She doesn’t clean (they have a cleaner come twice a week) but on her 3 days she meal plans, orders food, cooks meals (and preps meals for other days), runs errands such as dry cleaning, post office etc. and takes teenager’s to their activities. She opens mails, marks bills that need paying… all kinds of things. The family also have a gardener and pool person.

The original owner of our house , early Victorian, had a staff of 7 domestic servants. Even today, we have a cleaner three days a week, a gardener and a handyman. Unfortunately, I’m not part of the aristocracy.

I work as an Estate Manager for UHNW/old money families in very traditional settings (although not at the moment with young children!) - think Downton Abbey style. I basically run large country estates, generate income and manage all the staff. It’s quite a specialist role and you need a specific degree and to be a chartered surveyor to do it.

They have lots of staff generally, we are all provided free accommodation by the employer. Sometimes 100+ staff on the estates I’ve worked on. This includes obvious ones like butlers, maids etc… but also in house painters, electricians, farm workers, game keepers, florists, gardeners.

Addressing the principals is largely dependant on their titles. It’s ‘your grace’ for a duke/duchess or just ‘sir/lady X’ if that is their title.

Take a copy of The Lady magazine and have a look at the small ads at the back.

plenty of opportunities still for butlers, housekeepers, other domestic staff. And yes, lots of jobs with residential accommodation too.

estates manager, ground keeper, gardener. Cook, housekeeper, nannies, all can still be residential jobs all in the same larger house, or with a cottage on the grounds.