Is Dave Clark really a good match for Beatrice?
There's money behind him, but no title or even birth.
Still, he seems gentlemanlike and discreet, so maybe he'd be acceptable?
What's the consensus?
In my humble opinion, Mirabel, although I do see what you mean, over the years I think that the BRF have become much more flexible over people's background. The old days of disaproving dowagers at Balls gazing at parvenus dancing with aristocratic young girls and saying 'Anything known?' [i.e. indicating that they regarded the suitor as coming from nowhere] have long gone.
Provided someone is respectable and is 'not on the make' and clearly loves the royal bride, [or the Royal bridgegroom, come to that] then I don't think that there would be too many objections. The money is a bonus!
Remember, too, that Beatrice and Eugenie are apparently not now going to have formal roles within the BRF. And with every birth to William and in due course Harry's wives, both young ladies will drop further and futher down the succession pecking-order.
There have been some 'interesting' choices as consorts who marry into the BRF for some years now:
Anthony Armstong Jones: He was not titled and before his marriage to Princess Margaret, he had had what is known as an 'exotic' collection of girlfriend. He worked as a photographer [still regarded as 'trade' back in the 1960's by stuffy old courtiers]. He came from a much-divorced family, at a time when divorce [this was pre the 1969 Divorce Reform Acts] was still a but frowned upon. Even the Society columnist in Queen Magazine was appalled by the match, and indeed could never even bear to mention Lord Snowdon by name, referring to him in lists as 'Princess Margaret's husband for years afterwards.
Mark Phillips. Army Captain Mark came from an 'unfashionable regiment' - i.e. not a Guards regiment - and they apparently even had to 'invent' a smart enough uniform for him to wear at the wedding ceremony. Mark's father was a director of an 'unsmart' company - Walls [sausage-makers and mass market ice creams]. Mark's parents did have a little money though - there was the bonus that his mother was a member of the rich and well-connected Tiarks family.
Both the well-connected Lady Diana Spencer and the less-aristocratic Sarah came from divorced backgrounds, which a generation earlier would have caused HUGE raised eyebrows, as they were marrying the heir to the throne and the Queen's second son. Princess Margaret was obviously going to become 'less important' and so her marriage to Anthony Armstrong Jones was always going to be 'less difficult', but even at the time of Lady Diana's engagement, there were people who thought that the Spencer divorce was going to be problematic at Court.
Princess Michael of Kent: take a look at the thread on this board about this lady's lineage if you want to see the challenges her background has brought to the BRF!
Sophie Rhys-Jones. Her parents managed to scrape together the money to fund a private education, but her father was a Tyre [Tire] salesman and therefore not even from the solid upper-middle class professions. Her mother was a secretary [and not at a 'smart' Art Gallery or socially acceptable 'charity'].
And even look at Kate Middleton: Catherine's parents have become wealthy through their own hard work, but before their business 'took off' they were from relatively humble stock. Catherine spent her early years in a modest semi-detached house. I dislike snobbery and the class system, because to me all that really matters is whether you are an honourable person or not: Carole Middleton was born into a working-class family; Michael Middleton was born into a more middle class family, but even so, it was a lower middle class background. He actually worked as an aircraft-dispatcher, a very 'ordinary' sort of job and not as a pilot as has sometimes been reported. There were some good middle class relatives in his ancestry, and although much is made about 'family trusts' in the Middleton background, none of these recent Middleton 'ancestors' seemed to die wealthy [Wills are publically available for inspection here in England]. [In Berkshire, rumours persist that 'Uncle Gary', (Carole Middleton's brother] who the papers refer to as a 'black sheep' had been a useful source of finance to the Middleton family before their business really took off, although who knows how accurate this is.] I think that even 30 years ago, there would have been enough of the stuffy old-guard to have prevented William from even getting involved with Catherine. The fact that this appears to be a love match is, I am sure, one reason why the BRF and their advisors were so quick to 'bless' this union: I am sure that courtiers noted that 'even the right background' had done nothing to prevent the disaster that befell the marriage of William's parents: which I am sure made it easy to overlook Catherine's relatively humble beginnings.
Nowdays, Britain is much more of meritocracy, emphasising that what is important is what you make of yourself, not where you come from. Provided a person is honourable and hard working, I think that it does not matter what a royal suitor's background is. So I do not think that there would be any difficulty whatsoever with Dave Clark's acceptance.
Only my thoughts and not meant to offend,
Alex
