With names like Jeeves, Carson, Hudson and Alfred, butlers have often been portrayed as almost as cut-glass posh as their employers, and often far smarter.

Now butlers can claim to be moving up the social ladder themselves, commanding salaries of up to £100,000 a year – and, in some cases, twice that.

Scottish butlers are said to be increasingly sought out by well-heeled international tourists seeking the Downton Abbey experience at shooting estates and luxury castles for hire, while more modern “PA”-style butlers are being snapped up by wealthy oil industry executives.

“There’s quite a demand for butlers,” says Simeon Rosset, an Edinburgh-based butler who’s worked for Bono, Kylie Minogue, below right, Quincy Jones and politicians and royals.

“Last year there must have been a dozen billionaires that I know who visited Scotland, so the money and opportunity available just now is incredible,” he adds.

“Butlers can earn anything between £45,000 to £100,000, but they do have to work hard for it.” According to the recruitment agency Greycoat Lumleys, demand is on the up in Scotland’s capital.

An agency spokesman says: “We are finding the demand for all types of household staff, including housekeepers, cooks, nannies, chefs, gardeners, butlers, chauffeurs, household managers and household couples, is ever-increasing in Edinburgh.”

Its 2018 salary survey found butlers’ salaries were rising due to a shift from traditional butler to modern assistant.

“While there will always be a place for the traditional butler, many modern butlers are taking on house manager and PA duties,” the agency adds.

“They often need to be able to multi-task, overseeing entire estates – as well as being tech-savvy enough to operate modern security systems.”

As well as healthy salaries, butlers often enjoy significant perks of live-in free accommodation with no bills and the use of a car, as well as a unique fly-on-the-wall view of how the other half lives.

Although the highest paid butler jobs mean moving abroad, Rosset says there are rich pickings in Scotland.

“There’s an awful lot of wealthy tourists desperate for old-fashioned luxury. They want the castle to rent and to be looked after by a butler.

“They play golf and go shooting and expect a certain level of service.”

Rosset – whose agency Rosset Bespoke Butlers finds staff for wealthy employers and runs a training academy – has travelled the world in luxury, flying in private jets, cruising on luxury yachts and driving Ferraris and Bentleys.

However, he points out that butlers have to be prepared to take on unexpected challenges. Once, when one employer took a fancy for sea urchins, Rosset obliged by jumping off a yacht off the Italian coast to scour the seabed.

“I got some,” he recalls, and his employer was impressed. Among the posts being advertised by one specialist agency is for a live-in butler in a private estate in Edinburgh.

Described as a “fairly relaxed hands-on role”, it offers a £50,000 salary with a property suitable for three thrown in, plus a car and utility bills covered.

Another agency has two positions for butlers at a busy shooting estate near Duns in the Borders.

The salary is said to be “negotiable” with tasks including taking care of the dining room, cleaning and running errands.

As well as posts at estates, private hire castles and with wealthy visitors seeking to temporarily boost their staff while holidaying in the Highlands, butlers are also in demand from wealthy foreign families with children at university.

Last year the family of a student at St Andrews placed adverts seeking a team of 12 domestic staff, including a butler, paying annual salaries of £30,000.

According to George Telford, a former executive head butler at Cameron House Hotel who is currently based in a Cairo palace, there is big money to be made.

“A full-time professional butler can earn between £60,000 and £130,000 per year and, if outside the UK in places like China, Russia or any Arab country, it can go as high as £220,000,” he says.

“There is a demand for British butlers not only in the UK but worldwide.”

Telford was inspired by Gordon Jackson’s butler in 70s TV show Upstairs Downstairs and went on to work for Robbie Williams, Jason Donovan and Sir Paul McCartney.

He adds: “I was self-taught, but today’s butler needs to attend one of many schools for high-end training and be ready and suited for a much demanding but rewarding career.”

Rosset, whose academy has trained people from Beijing and America keen to add “British trained” to their CV, says that while the role can offer luxury living, it’s not for everyone.

“I’ve flown around the world on private jets and stayed on luxury yachts,” he says.

“It’s an amazing job. However, you need to be available all of the time and give 100 per cent.”