Prince William's relationship down the toilet

Rumor has it that the world's most eligible bachelor may have dumped his middle class girlfriend because of her mother's numerous faux pas.

[H]er mother, a former air stewardess, who not only, we are told, addressed the Queen with the phrase "Pleased to meet you" rather than the accepted "How do you do?", but was also known to have let slip a word toffs consider quite the ghastliest blasphemy: toilet.

As a faux pas it was up there with a convivial George Brown, then foreign secretary, asking the Archbishop of Lima if "she" cared for a dance. It is hard to imagine a blunder more guaranteed to hasten Miss Middleton's return to the (middle class) singles circuit, short of venturing to the Queen: "Hello ducky, nice lounge you've got 'ere, mind if I kick the corgi off the settee and eat me tea in front of Celebrity Wife Swap?"

Good stuff about the still remaining class divisions within the UK, particularly the upper class's disdain for, and fear of, the aspirational middle class--especially those in trade. It's a world where the ultimate putdown is to say of an arriviste that his family "bought their own furniture." See also U and non-U for more linguistic differences.