my family goes back on both sides to peasant and yeoman farmers and fishers, sorry, no courtiers (at least not with paternity acknowledged).  the closest we get to aristocracy is a Thane, a kind or rural Big Man or squire, way way back on the paternal side.  the other side is "peasants all the way down."  I suppose family history (oral and written) may explain some of my political thought processes and sympathies.

somehow the experiments I've done in sustainable living -- like using a manual composting loo for 18 months, living without a car, conserving water and heating gas, vegetable gardening, eating local food in season etc -- don't strike me as quite equivalent to dressing up in shepherd costume and frolicking at the Petit Trianon or the Spanish equivalent :-)  but ymmv.

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...