Upper class

The upper class in Britain is statistically very small and consists of the peerage, gentry, and landowners. These people were traditionally the wealthiest in the land having inherited money and position. Typically they would speak with Received Pronunciation accent and have been educated at public schools.

In the United Kingdom, entry to the upper class is still considered difficult, if not impossible, to attain unless one is born into it. Marriage into upper-class families rarely results in complete integration, since many factors raise a challenging barrier between the upper, upper middle, and middle classes.

Titles, while often considered central to the upper class, are not always strictly so. Both Captain Mark Phillips and Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence, the respective first and second husbands of Her Royal Highness The Princess Anne lacked any rank of peerage, yet could scarcely be considered to be anything other than upper class.

That being said, those in possession of a hereditary peerage – for example a Dukedom, a Marquessate, an Earldom, a Viscounty or a Barony – will, almost invariably, be members of the upper class, though a Life Peerage is that of the rank of Baron, most Life Peers are not Upper Class.

Where one was educated is often considered to be more important than the level of education attained. Traditionally, upper class children will be brought up — at home — by a Nanny for the first few years of life, until old enough to attend a well-established preparatory school or pre-preparatory school. Moving into secondary education, it is still commonplace for upper-class children to attend one of Britain's prestigious public schools, typically Ampleforth College, Eton College, Harrow School, Marlborough College, Oundle School, Rugby School, Uppingham School, Wellington College, Westminster School and Winchester College, although it is not unheard of for certain families to send their children to grammar schools.

Sports — particularly those involving the outdoors — are a popular pastime, and are usually taken up from a school age or before, and improved upon throughout the educational years. Traditionally, at school, rugby union is much more popular than football: indeed, the two sports are often taken to represent the two extremes of social classes 'at play', although paradoxically rugby is not played at Winchester. Other frequented sports include lawn tennis (which has a broad appeal and could hardly be considered to be dominated by any one class), croquet (quite the opposite), cricket and golf.

Equestrian activities are also popular — with both sexes. There is a long-standing tradition of the upper class having close links to horses; indeed, one of the foremost example of three-day eventing prowess is Zara Philips, daughter of Princess Anne and recently-crowned Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year. Men who ride will more often participate in polo, as is the case with both His Royal Highness Prince Charles and his sons, Their Royal Highnesses Prince William and Prince Harry.

Hunting and shooting, too, are favoured pastimes. Some upper class families with large estates will run their own, but many will know someone who keeps pheasants, or other game, and may instead shoot with them. Much as with horses, there is a particular affinity for dogs (especially Labradors and spaniels) amongst the upper class — and, equally, sporting pursuits that involve them. It should, however, be noted that none of the aforementioned sports are, of course, exclusively upper class.

Language, pronunciation and writing style have been, consistently, one of the most reliable indicators of class.

The choice of house too, is an important feature of the upper class. While it is true that there are fewer upper class families that are able to maintain both the well-staffed town house and country house than in the past, there are still many families that have a hereditary 'seat' somewhere in the country that they have managed to retain. An upper class house (if privately owned, and not staffed) tends to be a comparatively untidy composite of grand furniture — having been inherited — which may have become frayed and threadbare over time and vast piles of ancient books, papers and other old reading material for which there is now no home.

Many upper class families will be in possession of works of art by old masters, valuable sculpture or period furniture, having had said pieces handed down through several generations. Indeed, inheriting the vast majority of one's possessions is the traditional form in upper class families.

The organization of the garden is also an important upper class trait. Bedding plants, rockeries, hanging baskets and goldfish ponds will be nowhere evident; instead we find avenues of limes or sequoia, box hedges, shrub roses, herbaceous borders and stone pathways. Upper class gardens will look more natural and unconstructed than artificially preened.

Money and material possessions are often thought of as a less important factor for the United Kingdom's upper class than for the upper classes of other countries; although this allows for an upper class family to be impoverished, an upper class family is likely to have had wealth at some point in its history.