Meet Ms Manners

"The understanding of international interpersonal skills and luxury service culture needs to grow in order for China to keep up with Western countries," says William Hanson, one of The English Manner's senior tutors.

"The Chinese people may now all have designer handbags, for example, but they have realized that they need to know how to carry the bag in order to really look the part," he says.

Messervy, who first visited China in January 2012 to attend the World Snow Polo Championships in Tianjin, describes her role these days as "more of a global ambassador for the brand".

Messervy has committed her own share of social bloopers, while her company has courted controversy over its tours of London's Westminster in 2005 - giving her a rich tapestry of mistakes as well as successes from which to draw. She worked for the Queen's household from the 1980s and later became private secretary to Prince Michael of Kent.

"The first time I was presented to the Queen, I think I turned my back on her instead of walking out backward. But I wasn't sent to the Tower (a former dungeon)," she recalls, peppering the story with some typical British humor.

Her pet peeve is smartphones - or, rather, the way in which they have clouded good manners. She gets visibly riled at the thought of pedestrians who stop mid-stride to ping messages around digital space and reminds Hanson that they need to write a blog post about this.

"It seems common here to whip out your phone at lunch, but there are certain situations where that would not be acceptable in the UK, such as during a meeting with your boss. It sends the signal that the other person is not important," she says.

She says demand is also rising among her British clients for instruction on Chinese business etiquette, to which the school increasingly caters.