One of the most fascinating stories to come out of the British experience is of course the rise of the commoner and future British Queen of England, Catherine Elizabeth Middleton. If you know anything about British aristocracy the British people believe in a caste system so you are either born noble or you are not. Those who are born noble in the peerage system want to maintain their social standing and strive to keep out as much as possible those who are not.

Unlike most other global societies with the exception Middle Eastern cultures social classes change depending on the accumulation of wealth and personal achievement but not so in the United Kingdom.

In Britain, no matter how much money you acquire like the Middletons who are worth over $50 million and are considerably wealthier than most in the United Kingdom if you are not born in an aristocratic family you are just not part of the British High Society.  The story of the Goldsmiths is absolutely fascinating, the Goldsmiths are Kate’s mother’s people and it is the story of one woman her grandmother. Grandma Dorothy encouraged her husband to take up the trade of carpentry instead of coal mining and that changed the trajectory and social standing of her family from council flats to the palace, Kensington for now and Buckingham in the future.

Dorothy and her husband wanted more for her own children and based on their dream they always made sure that their children would-be on the upward course to the upper echelons of power and prestige. She knew that her stay in the council flats was just but for a season and that there were better days coming for her descendants. Some people held their noses up in the air and named Kate a social climber. This is unfair and totally misleading, however, we see her as a woman who captured the heart of the young man who would be the future King of England.

Why wouldn’t anybody want a better life for themselves and if the man of your dreams happens to be a future King who would turn him down?