Words at Play : 7 Downton Abbey Terms Americans Are Not Familiar With
Today we think of a valet as "a person who parks cars," but the older meaning of the word is "a man's male servant who performs personal services (as taking care of clothing)." Mr. Bates is the valet to Lord Grantham. Valet came to English from French and can be correctly pronounced anglicized as VAL-ut, or in the French manner, as VAL-ay or val-AY.
Historically, a valet or valet de chambre was a young man of noble birth serving a lord of higher rank. It then came to mean “servant” in a more general way (a synonym of valet is manservant). Today valet can also refer to a rack or tray for holding clothing or personal effects.
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