> Your class is in what you say!

I meant to post this some days back. I read about it in the daily mirror online edition. Now many of you might be aware(or are you ) Prince Williams the heir to the british throne was having a relationship with Kate Middleton. On 14 April 2007 The Sun newspaper broke, a 'world exclusive' suggesting that Prince William and Kate Middleton had split up.
Now the reasons for the split up ofcourse are many, including williams feeling he is too young to marry.
Anyway what is interesting is that there has been a huge speculation about the royal family not being to happy with Kate and her mother, and especially about their english usage. Well i am quoting a small bit from the independent



"Pleased to meet you," Mrs Carole Middleton said on being presented to the Queen(instead of "How do you do"), and, if we are to believe the newspapers, went on to soil Her Majesty's ears by using the word "toilet"(instead of a lavatory). Add in the offence of simultaneously chewing gum - which seems, as a friend of mine observed, an implausibly showy hat-trick - and courtiers quickly came to the conclusion that Mrs Middleton, and by extension her daughter Kate, were unfit for polite society.

It might have been the gum-chewing, but the upper classes have always sought to distinguish themselves from the lower orders principally by means of their speech. Aspirational members of the middle classes, from the 1950s to the 1980s, purged their speech of its usages of "settee", "living room", "pardon", "home", "toilet", "serviette" and, in extreme cases, even "mirror". Inspired by Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige, they practised saying "sofa", "sitting room", "what", "house", "loo", "napkin" and "looking-glass".

Upper-class usage has never been as unified or as static as glossaries suggest, however. It used to be vulgar to stress the first syllable in "balcony" or "peony", and few people now insist on "luncheon". Once all the middle classes had learnt not to say "pardon", the upper classes shifted their own usage; the Princess Royal, I believe, says "ee-ther", and I've heard the grand-daughter of a Duke say "toilet", and even "ever so". Perhaps it was meant as a joke.

In any case, the only firm rule seems to be that a word is common when somebody common says it - and what could be more common than a middle-class person pretentiously referring to a "looking-glass" in their "house"? When somebody posh uses a word, it becomes posh.
-From Philip Hensher: Snobbery is just so tempting - Independent Online Edition > Philip Hensher


lol this has to be a classic frankly I guess it doesn't matter that the duke of edinbrough asks the Aborigines: "Do you still throw spears?" but that is aristocratic cos it makes fun of them, but toilet is oh so low class

oh and royal anecdotes adds a new twist to the breakup read this


Royal Anecdotes - Royal Secrets » Why Kate Middleton Missed Her February Date With Destiny
Back in February it was commonly believed that Prince William would announce his engagement to Kate Middleton. Well-connected journalists Richard Kay and Geoffrey Levy thought so. Kate herself expected it, we’re told. Most of us thought it was a done deal.

Now they have split up. What went wrong in February?

I have no direct knowledge of what happened, but looking at the situation from a Royal historical perspective — which won’t be understood by many in these democratic times — I believe the following scenario prevailed :

On the 22nd of December, Christopher Wilson wrote an article in the Daily Mail about his researches into Kate Middleton’s lineage. He called the piece, “Kate, the Coal Miner’s Girl“.

It was around then that the atmosphere cooled dramatically. Kate didn’t go to Sandringham for Christmas. William didn’t turn up at the Middleton’s Scottish retreat for New Year, and a tension was perceptible between them. After a few month’s grace, the relationship was called off.

Undoubtedly, many words have been spoken in private — words we’ll never hear, nor should they ever be released into the public domain. This is not about snobbery or personal superiority, or even about Carole Middleton. The public will judge it as such, of course, but in fact it goes way beyond that.

It is essentially about dynastic survival. Were William to marry Kate — as personally suitable as she is — the House of Windsor would be changed forever.

The aristocracy can be very curt about lineage, especially the lesser families. European Royalty is particularly cutting about alliances not seen to be Royal. You can imagine a future European Royal occasion in which the hosts sigh and say, “Do we have to invite the coal miners?”

Left-wing rags would stop writing about “the Germans” and adopt the same term instead. In the clash of dynasties the House of Windsor would be diminished forever.

A country can always change its Prime Minister or President. Britain will even survive the depredations of Tony Blair. But once the Royal house is marked by genetic inheritance, it’s judged by that forever.

I believe that is what happened between late December and February. I may be wrong, but we’ll never know the truth of the case. The Royal Family keeps its secrets well, as it should.

This is not about the Middletons personally, but the long timelines of Royal inheritance. At the level of Monarchs, times don’t change much.

The Royal Family keeps its secrets well, as it should.


well theyre a law unto themselves really