I wondered that about inheritance tax on the RF. It's 40% on assets worth over £325k here, but your surviving spouse doesn't need to pay it. Would be hilarious if Charlie had to cut a cheque for £100m+.

Fun fact: my long-term partner would have to pay £70k tax if I go first to stay in our house, as tax upon death is one of the only parts of English law where being married matters.

The class system has definitely changed in the UK for the better in the past 30 years, but clearly not all of the way there. Using working, middle, etc, is more now just a way of defining economic status like it is in the US. IMO, that's been because UK students were able to go to university for free for many years and blur the lines of class. State education up to the age of 18 has also improved a lot. Your colleague that you mention is proud of their humble routes to make it in a profession previously reserved for those born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

To Ong's point, it can be difficult for people to get along when there is too wide a gap in economic status. That's on both parties to resolve. Snobbery still exists, but definitely on both sides of the fence (like making fun of accents!). Some of the wealthiest people I've met (inherited wealth) have been the nicest people I've met, with titles like Lord and Lady. A lot of the time they don't have much cash and a crumbling house.

India is on the extreme when it comes to the class system. I don't like what I see at all in California, with race and economic status often linked. Everybody has a Mexican housekeeper or gardener, state schools are frowned upon, many can't afford health insurance. That's very much a class-based system under my interpretation.