Aristocrats in Waiting or Embarrasing Relatives Everyone Avoids at Family Parties?

[landshark]

They probably wouldn't have met if she wasn't in the upper part of the middle class.

 

[Trompe le Monde]

ive taken a dump in windsor castle.
big whoop about antiquated monarchs with no power.

 

[csoukoulis]

Cant wait till this royal wedding **** is over. I cant believe the air time this is getting in the news.

 

[cptjeff]

Originally Posted by bringusingoodale

Wait, I remember reading somewhere that Kate went to some ******* expensive privates schools throughout her education. How can her parents simply be "middle-class" and afford to pay. Unless i'm missing something here.

Self made wealth, IIRC, though not part of the aristocracy.

But they are not poor by any means. No, they're not House of Windsor rich. But they're hardly living in an average house in the suburbs.

 

[ShaneB]

I thought he should have married a Princess rather than a commoner. What's with the established European monarchies marrying commoners? They seem to have made a habit of it. Ironically, the Pretenders to the various thrones all seem to marry others befitting their rank.

 

[SuitMyself]

Originally Posted by bringusingoodale

Wait, I remember reading somewhere that Kate went to some ******* expensive privates schools throughout her education. How can her parents simply be "middle-class" and afford to pay. Unless i'm missing something here.

Middleton's parents are self-made millionaires. They got rich when they started a mail-order party supplies business.

 

[Fuuma]

Qujality royals get fucked by their greasy, gold chain wearing bodyguards and become part of a nice sex scandal. This British thing is yawn-worthy.

 

[tricky]

Originally Posted by csoukoulis

Cant wait till this royal wedding **** is over. I cant believe the air time this is getting in the news.

I agree. It's absolutely marsupialed that every news station is leading with this story and giving it lots of air time. Drives me nuts.

 

[TheWraith]

Originally Posted by SuitMyself

Middleton's parents are self-made millionaires. They got rich when they started a mail-order party supplies business.

That's right. They're rich but still middle class, as class in the UK is not dictated by how much money one has.

 

[lasbar]

Originally Posted by TheWraith

That's right. They're rich but still middle class, as class in the UK is not dictated by how much money one has.

It is nowadays about money ,the school you go to and where you live...

The old class system has just evolved...

The tabloid press is going crazy ...

They're trying to sell her as the new Diana...

One day to go..

 

[Bounder]

Originally Posted by lasbar

It is nowadays about money ,the school you go to and where you live...
Yes and no. The rigid birth-based class system is far, far weaker than it once was, though it still exists. But bloodlines are now just one factor rather than the controlling one. Wealth, your schools and, to a lesser extent, where you lived have always been important in making class distinctions in England. Where you lived was, partially, a byproduct of how wealthy you where. But, to a some extent, class in England has always been something you could "adopt." You couldn't, really, just decide to be a member of the true upper class, except by marrying into it. But you could, and a great many people did, join the middle class by adopting the necessary mannerisms. This necessarily implied amassing a certain amount of wealth. Traditionally, being "middle-class" in England meant that you had at least one live-in servant, so the middle class was not the broad demographic we think of today but a relatively small and privileged group. The entire point of Cambridge and Oxford were, originally, to train promising children of the lower classes for advancement into the middle-class. Part of this was what we would normally think of as education but a great deal was also training in social mannerisms that would allow the Oxbridge grad to fit in and not, to use the technical term, be pegged as an "oik." While it is no longer really advertised, class distinctions do still matter in England in certain circles of power. These class distinctions are exemplified by mannerisms. People of slightly dubious background can get by fairly well if they are able to send the right signals. But the point is, unlike in the U.S., it is not all about money. Money and the correct mannerisms can take you quite far in modern England. Money and a different set of mannerism can take you far, too, but in a different direction. This isn't necessary a worse direction but, well, let me put it this way, David Beckham will not be recieving an invitation to join Pratt's anytime soon.

 

[Master Squirrel]

I received my facebook invite to Wedding this morning. Being facebook, I was invited to join the crowds or watch it in pubs throughout the Commonwealth, or wherever thyne arse may beeth.

I accepted of course. One does not turn down an invitation from the British Monarchy.

 

[gwolf]

 

[epa]

I think that I read somewhere that the U.K. class system was far more than lower, upper, and middle class. There was, for example, the lower upper middle class which had a hard time because they were supposed to have a certain style of living (kind of upper middle class) but couldn't afford it. IIRC, I read it in one of George Orwell's books, I think that his parents belonged to that class.

 

[lasbar]

Originally Posted by epa

I think that I read somewhere that the U.K. class system was far more than lower, upper, and middle class. There was, for example, the lower upper middle class which had a hard time because they were supposed to have a certain style of living (kind of upper middle class) but couldn't afford it. IIRC, I read it in one of George Orwell's books, I think that his parents belonged to that class.

Working class people with aspiration see themselves as middle-class or lower middle class and that is partly due to the credit boom from thetail of the nineties/noughties.

People moved to the right part of town ,mortgaged themselves to death to buy the right house with the right furniture , took credit card loans to buy the right car, the right clothes and going to the right spot on holidays...

The Mondeo man voted Tory at last election...

Result?

The all class system is even more confusing than before...

The mid-counties middle classes mix with the upper class and through marriages buy themselves a piece of history and so on...

Things weren't that different last century when daughters of rich merchants were marrying into aristocratic families to allow them to financially prosper and maintain their estates...