one day my butler will come

On the new reality show Australian Princess, Princess Diana's former butler, one of the show's judges, apprehends a young female contestant. "Oh no. You've committed the cardinal sin of tea-making," he scolds. "That's what the common people do. We call them MIFs--milk in first."
Another time, he tells the anecdote of how the Queen likes to take her tea (handle at five o'clock on the saucer) standing at her bedroom window and joking about the untidiness of the rabble gawking up from below.
It just strikes me that I don't get how John Howard's Liberal Australia doesn't have class, and yet we lumber along with the enormous symbolism of being a monarchy, which by its nature can't help but divide people into classes of nobles and commoners. And the royal family: now there's a minority group for you which really gets some special benefits.
Anyway, as I'm only up to page 31 (an achievement around here) of Judith Brett's essay on Howard, I guess I may still find some answers.