Nice little peek at the Butler life…Enjoy.

Exclusive: the Duke of Marlborough's butler tells Eleanor Doughty why being a butler isn't quite like Downton Abbey – although it is, just a little bit…

But although waiting on the aristocracy is a niche trade requiring a cocktail of social and practical skills from tapestry management to shoe care, it is by no means a dying industry – as reflected by Blenheim Palace’s butler school, which the household hopes to launch next year.

Stephen Duckett, head butler at Blenheim Palace and right-hand man to Jamie Spencer-Churchill, the 12th Duke of Marlborough, will be heading up the apprenticeship scheme, the first of its kind to be run from one of Britain’s stately homes.

The eight-month course will not only act as a finishing school, teaching etiquette, but will also instruct in proficiencies such as coffee mastery, cookery and the maintenance of fine art. Even dog handling will be covered.

Duckett, 36, knew he wanted to be a butler from an early age. At 17 he wrote to Buckingham Palace – not for a letter from the Queen, but to ask whether butlers still existed. They did and the palace had an opening, and it was there that his career began.

Read more: Real-life butlers: What the Mr Carsons of 2015 really do in stately homes