The preoccupations of the privileged dominate valuable airtime of media, which should be holding them to account.

The political elite chatter about the optics of opera-going, dents in friendships formed at Oxford University and how to get coverage of themselves in Vogue magazine, while many working-class people literally cannot afford their energy bills.

Radio pundits questioned whether Boris Johnson sacking Michael Gove would harm their longstanding chummy friendship formed at Oxford, while families like mine could barely afford the petrol to visit their own mates.

Recent Chancellor Rishi Sunak – whose wife is richer than the King – infamously suggested wealthy families simply donate their $660 energy rebate to charity because wealthy second-home owners would receive double the payment.

Meanwhile, my sister, who works 10-hour days at a kindy, sobbed at being unable to pay an astronomical electricity bill (energy bills rose by 54 per cent while I was there, and will now rise to $4160 a year, even when capped).

While my sister sobbed, Shell executives rejoiced: reporting record profits of $US11.5 billion, doubling its earnings in a single year. Free-market lover and former Shell employee Liz Truss now runs the country. Her chancellor’s first move? Lifting the EU cap on millionaire bankers’ bonuses. Her government’s national insurance tax cut will benefit higher earners more than those on lower incomes. The richest are being helped first.

This is all occurring while the country faces a recession and the biggest plunge in living standards on record.

The world has seen an outpouring of love and grief towards the Queen, whilst anti-monarchist dissenters have been discouraged or even arrested.

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Yes, the Queen worked hard and was loved by many across class boundaries, and indeed many who made the pilgrimage to see her lying in State were split across class lines. But it’s also true that many quieter Britons wouldn’t have had the luxury of a spare 11 hours to queue as they were too busy working to keep up with the cost of living.

My sister and I – both low-income earners – paid 40 per cent inheritance tax on our late dad’s estate. Neither Prince William nor King Charles III paid a penny on multibillion-dollar estates left to them by the Queen.

As the chandeliers of their castles and palaces were being polished, two Cornwall pubs turned to candlelight to cope with soaring bills. “We’re going back to 1753,” the owner declared. Judging by the soaring inequality, the country is doing the same.