While the Latin of antiquity retained its prestige in high culture, the natural untutored usage of ordinary people was always free to go its own way.
Although he was unexpectedly dismissed from the premiership by de Gaulle in July 1968, Pompidou retained his prestige and influence in the Gaullist party.
Long after its political power had been usurped by military men, the court retained its prestige as the fountainhead of culture.
Even out of official power, General Nasution retained enough prestige to say things that might have been fatal for a lesser figure.
However, Mukden retained its prestige as the older capital of the reigning dynasty; the tomb complexes of earlier Manchu rulers Zhao (Beiling, or North) Tomb and Fu (Dongling, or East) Tomb are among the most famous monuments of China; in 2004 both were added to an existing UNESCO World Heritage site protecting Ming- and Qing-era tombs.
Although his determination that Britain "should count for something in the transactions of the world" was successfully challenged by Bismarck in the Schleswig-Holstein affair, 1863 64, Palmerston retained great prestige at home; and on the eve of his death he greatly enlarged the Liberal majority in an election on the cry "Leave it to Pam".
However true that might be, though, the old institutions retain their prestige.
And even amid the mounting dissatisfaction with the generals' management of the political transition, the military retains its prestige.
As the greatest nobleman in France, he had no doubt that he must retain the prestige and privileges of the nobility; but he knew equally well that the nobility should not become a caste closed to ambitious and able men.
As the most selective universities enter the already crowded online education market, success is by no means guaranteed; it remains to be seen if their historic advantages will continue to differentiate them from more agile competitors, and if they will be able to retain the prestige associated with their offline teaching.
