Need to go to a top private school to marry an Aristocrat!

[Missingprincess]

From observing Kate & Pippa, Rose & her sister Marina & lots of other women (& men) who married aristos it seems attending top private schools seems to be a prerequisite. Eg Kate & Pippa went to Marlborough, Rose & Marina Stowe..
Does it happen oftern that an average girl who went to a normal comp from a 2 bed terrace marries into landed gentry?

Rose and Marinas grandmother was a bridesmaid for QE (offer something like that) so I think they were already in those circles.

*or

@Moonshine5 yes Rose & Marina were already aristos but strangely married much older men. Both are gorgeous, surely there were some younger landed gentry types!

High IQ? That would make one an outlier in those circles, surely. I’ve not noticed many excellent senses of humour either?

It’s pretty normal for people with similar experiences to band together, and the whole point of expensive schools is to maintain the status quo. Which is also the point of the aristocracy.

@MissTrip82 agree. Aristos gen not really a great catch, the upwardly mobile & ambitious however…

My family is posh in a way but not aristo andi went to a state school. Yes I think the school is where the training is done. Possible to be part of it all without the school if you have a specialist skill (horses, cars, boats, fashion, art, spectacular beauty, Catholicism) or more likely if you have that plus a lot of money (some celebrity offspring, Stella McCartney etc). Principally you have to want to be part of it. I had no idea what was going on when I turned up at a Cambridge college notorious for its aristo connections. Everyone talked to everyone but yes, there were some odd questions that in hindsight were finding out if I fitted in, then once the dust settled there were a whole group of people who just weren't around any more, they were socialising somewhere else. I can't say it bothered me, there were lots of other fun people.

Social skills are something it's hard to to fake though dd said I have done something right - her colleagues all presumed she's public school educated but she's not, comp! Just circumstances meant she learned the soft skills, not deliberate just chance. She doesn't have "the right" god parents though, we believe to wait for the child to choose.

They sort of flock together at university, happened when I was at university, still happens today

Dd2 has always had good social skills and is excellent company even for a teen. She was there last night actually and there’s talk of her going on holiday with them??! Be careful what you wish for we can’t compete!

It's odd that if someone unpopular goes to a school or a college, that school or college automatically becomes "not that much"! 🤣

Ahhhh the vetting questions.. First one is always "where did you go to school?"

And how did your daughter get those soft skills @mitogoshi? I also believe they are the key. The unspoken code is impossible to break without having the correct skill set..

With the obsession they seem to have with Catherine, probably.

I thought this was obvious?

It's how the British class system survives.

Northwestern is hugely prestigious. Not Oxford but extremely well regarded in the U.S.

Dd has this! She came home from her pals house the other day saying “had lunch with poshest people you could ever imagine but don’t worry I just pretended I was posh too” 😀😀. She’s repeatedly asked by adults where she goes to school and her reply is met with bafflement and “not heard of that one darling”

But "the right" social skills are learned & honed in Stowe!

Agreed

I didn’t notice this was another bumped thread to bash women. Wouldn’t have engaged. Northwestern is a great school.

I think the person who wasn't prestigious claiming Northwestern wasn't is in the minority, it's an excellent school

Just came on to say that I love this story. I think Jilly Cooper said that the upper class and working class have far more in common than their less-than-authentic middle class neighbours.

Also I always wondered how the Middleton returned the invitations? To the weekend house parties etc? Didn’t it take the Middleton family a long time and ultimately royal grandchildren to work their way up to an acceptably nice house?

Meghan went to a top Catholic private school & Northwestern university which is also prestigious. Meghan had an excellent education.

Is she Catholic then? Because that would take Harry and the kids out of the line if succession wouldn't it?

Presumably if you are an attractive sociable female, you don't have to return the invitation if you are invited as the girlfriend of a posho.

When Meghan was a child, many non-Catholics sent their kids to Catholic schools because the education and discipline were supposed to be better than their local public schools. Now, people send their kids to charter schools if they are unhappy with the local public schools. In the US, a public school is funded by the local city or town. In NYC, many Catholic schools are closing because people are choosing charter schools for their kids.

You don't have to be Catholic and the teachers are usually not nuns or priests.

BTW, Northwestern is a top school for the sciences. The science programs are very competitive.