This October, the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon, who reside at Highclere Castle in Hampshire England, advertised for an under butler. The advertisement specified the importance of employment experience in “the hotel or fine dining industry,” a knowledge of “wine and fine food,” and “a keen and enthusiastic” personality “to perform both family and banqueting duties.”

Alexander Mattinson saw the advertisement in International Modern Butler, a journal and website dedicated to the finer points of buttling. He was instantly intrigued. Sure, he’d worked at Buckingham Palace, and is currently Head Butler for the St. Regis Hotel in Deer Valley and Lead Butler for Butler Service Training, for all St. Regis hotels in North America. But this was Highclere–the castle used to film the wildly popular Downton Abbey. He’d watched the show’s first two seasons and lamented the fact that the new third season reached American televisions so much later than it did England’s. His family and friends across the pond kept posting plot spoilers on Facebook, “which was a bit of a pain,” he says. If Mattinson snagged the Highclere job, he’d be on the front lines of Downton, close enough to smell Mrs. Patmore’s tea cakes.





In the last two years, Downton has become a frequent conversation topic between Mattinson and his guests. He believes there’s a “yearning” among Americans “to see that upstairs way of life.” He mentions a brilliant moment in the first season when Matthew Crawley says he’ll have plenty of time to run Downton on the weekends. To which the Dowager Countess replies, ‘What is a weekend?’

“We all want to live the dream life,” Mattinson says. “At the St. Regis, everyone can experience what it’s like to live in a stately home–not just the upper echelon.”

But if St. Regis isn’t the upper echelon, what is?

“People for whom it’s a normal way of life to fly their private plane into our private airport, instead of Salt Lake,” Mattinson says.

Most of the hotel guests are not these people. Even if they can afford a suite and the accompanying butler service, they become extremely uncomfortable when Mattinson offers to unpack their bags. (St. Regis butlers offer this service to suite guests upon arrival, but only about 2 percent of people actually say yes.) Mattinson or a member of his staff will also offer to iron your clothes, shine your shoes, or come into your room each morning before you’ve even rolled out of bed, to draw back the curtains and bring tea and the newspaper. Once, a guest requested that Mattinson bring his street shoes to the restaurant of a neighboring hotel, so he could be more comfortable when he skied in for lunch. Another time, on Christmas morning, a guest requested an Indiana Jones-style hat. One of the butlers called a friend, who opened his store, custom wrapped the hat, and delivered it to the hotel.