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In this work the author examines the socio-cultural profile of the Egyptian upper class during the period between the Nationalist Revolution of 1919 and the Nasser Revolution in 1952. The study explores the composition, lifestyles and the prejudices embedded in its vocabulary and inter-class perceptions, and finds that the upper class, rather than providing the mainstay of a sustained civil society in the conventional sense, was an active element of a public sphere that emerged at moments of great crisis. Another aspect of the study deals with the widening gap between the upper class and the rest of society during 1919-52. The gap is measured not only in terms of economic disparity but also in socio-cultural terms, both of which are seen as contributing to the downfall of the class in 1952. It was the class consciousness that set one group against another and started a collision course that swept the military into power.