User:Josephine Ive

Josephine’s background started with a four-year apprenticeship in Catering with the Hampshire County Council in Winchester, England, during which she gained two City and Guilds hotel and catering qualifications. She graduated to supervisory positions with the HCC, studied another City and Guilds course, gained her Teacher’s Certificate and worked as a restaurant manager with the Independent Broadcasting Authority before starting her own business as a freelance chef, caterer and butler.

Here, Josephine was following something of a family tradition, as her father had been a butler/valet after World War Two. The business quickly became very successful, with Josephine cooking on occasions for many members of the British Royal Family, including the Queen and the Queen Mother, later Josephine accept ed a position with the Lord Chancellors Dept as a lady butler for High Court Judges. It was to be a memorable step, the first woman to be employed as a butler in the UK. Since the , her published books include ‘An Elegant Art’ in 1983. ‘The Finishing Touches’ followed in 1984, but it has been her first book that has achieved quite amazing sales. Now, in its ‘umpteenth’ edition, ‘An Elegant Art’ has sold well over 42,000 copies. Josephine went on to publish her third book in 1992, ‘By Jeeves!’, an essential guide to clothing care, valeting and packing your suitcase. In 2000, Josephine authored ‘Achieving excellence in guest service’, now recognised as a vital support to the butler and hospitality industry and her own teaching, demonstrations and public speaking engagements around the world. As a trainer of professional butlers, valets and luxury yacht stewards, Josephine has become well known and recognised in Australia, South East Asia and globally. Her butler/valet program and luxury yacht steward program, trains butlers, valets and stewards both for private clients private yacht owners, and five-star hotels worldwide.