I couldn't agree more.
As to the Middleton's having more class than Laura's family.
I might agree that at the wedding they were the best dressed but that doesn't make them anything more than a family that made money and managed to take the first prize in the marriage stakes with a pretty daughter.
Making it into the ranks of the well-moneyed by way of entrepreneurship and hard work is - IMO - far classier than being born with a silver spoon in one's mouth. Having in the family two mistresses of two Princes of Wales, one of whom went on to be King's mistress upon her married lover's ascending the Throne and the other being involved in the break-up of a family with young children and then marrying this Prince strikes me as an utter lack of class. Adultery is adultery no matter the rank of those involved. The Middletons seem to have a close knit marriage and the children are close to each other as well as to their parents; in these days of easy divorce, I find that a very classy accomplishment to have raised a family like that.
I give William enough credit to believe that after knowing his wife for a decade (and her family for almost the same time)plus living with her for many years, he would have long ago realised if she were playing the "marriage stakes" and looking upon him as the "prize" and if that had been the case, she would not currently be HRH The Duchess of Cambridge.
IMO it's character that matters and not to whom one is related. This is the twenty-first century and it's to be hoped that judging the classiness of a family no longer entails feudal remnants such as "blue blood", proximity to the Throne and whether one's money is inherited or earned for one's self. I am sure the Middletons are glad to have earned a good amount of money and they must be delighted to see their daughter happily married to the man she loves and who loves her. They're probably also concerned with how she's going to cope with her new role, considering the fate of three of the last generations' marriages.
Ms. Lopes, as I previously posted, could very well be a wonderful young woman. For whatever reason, the tabloids are not interested in her as they are in Pippa. I don't see Pippa looking for attention, but just living the life of any typical well-off young person. Should she stop attending Wimbledon or other society events merely because the tabloids are following her? This is the life she has led since university and what reason could there be for her to allow the press to control what she does or where she goes? As for the parking tickets, during my years in London, I saw many people in a rush opt to take the chance of getting a ticket and having to pay the fine rather than spend time they didn't have searching for a legal space.
Again, I'm no fan of Pippa's; she doesn't interest me. However, I don't understand why so many of the comments made about her on this forum reference her family background in a negative fashion. Diana, Princess of Wales had sisters who attended Ascot and the Epsom Derby and other social season events; her mother often sat with or without Diana in the Royal Box at Wimbledon and I never saw anyone remark on any of this at the time. Her brother's growing-up antics were covered, but with a wink and a grin. No adverse comments appeared when Diana appointed her sister Sarah as a lady-in-waiting.
The difference is simple: Diana came from an aristocratic, courtier family while the Middletons are middle class who came up in the world due to their own ideas and hard work. At bottom it's pure snobbery and old fashioned, cynical snobbery at that. Diana very much wanted her sons to treat everybody as equals; I'm glad to see they took her teachings to heart and that William married a woman he loved for her character, looks and personality rather than what position she had or didn't have in Debrett's or Burke's. But it's sad to see that class - in the old sense of the word - and arrogance still occupy a large segment of some Brits' psyches.
