Where Butlers of the World Learn Their Trade

This Is Where Butlers Go to Learn the Tricks of the Trade

Butlery students stand for inspection once they arrive in the morning at The International Butler Academy China on September 16, 2014 in Chengdu, China. (Taylor Weidman/Getty Images)

Batman gets all the glory, but really, he would be nothing without his butler Alfred Pennyworth.

In real life, those distinguished servants help keep the lives of the world’s ultra-wealthy running smoothly. So how does a butler master the Downton Abbey-esque trade? He goes to school, of course.

“A professional butler is somebody who is loyal, flexible, discreet, hard-working, honest, but most important, it is a person who has the ability to put somebody else’s wishes before [his] own,” says Robert Wennekes, chairman of the International Butler Academy, via Great Big Story.

The academy, located in Simpelveld, Netherlands, has 135 rooms and 80,000 square feet of space for prepping future butlers for service the world over.

The academy enrolls students from all around the world, ranging in age from 18-68, and they take 10-week classes on everything from proper ironing techniques and packing of suitcases to how to set a table properly.

What is the trick to being a world-renowned butler? “Discipline,” says Wennekes.

Watch the full video from Great Big Story below.