Poor Kate Middleton. Middle-class, but not classy enough, apparently:
Some of William's circle would even whisper "doors to manual" when Miss Middleton arrived, in a jibe at her mother being a former airline stewardess. There were even worse social sins, such as using the word "toilet" not "lavatory", saying "pleased to meet you" rather than "how do you do?", and "pardon" rather than "what?"
Perhaps she should get some coaching from entrepreneur and former "It Boy" Ben Elliott, a man of "impeccable breeding" who is the subject of a gushing profile in the staunchly democratic Independent. Actually, I was struck less by the wide-eyed Tatlerisms than the off-the-wall nature of his company - called Quintessentially - which plays Jeeves to anyone with money to burn:
Quintessentially... positions itself at the beck and call of high-maintenance clients, providing deals, discounts and contacts in every corner of the globe and helping them "access the inaccessible"... Quintessentially will take care of everyday travel arrangements, or look after spare sets of house keys; at the exotic, it will service a client's every (legal) need, getting tickets into sold-out events, or "invitation only" film premieres. It's an exclusive club whose members pay between £750 and £24,000 a year to be told where's cool, and to be got in there, particularly when travelling abroad... No request is too big, either. They once flew a particular brand of teabags halfway across the world, so Madonna could have a cuppa...
Each to his own. And there I was, thinking that journalism could be a mite parasitical at times.
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