Indeed. It seems to be historically common for people in power. I'd propose that what's different in the last two hundred or so years is that the middle class

Indeed. It seems to be historically common for people in power. I'd propose that what's different in the last two hundred or so years is that the middle class exists, is large enough and is literate enough to impose its values on 'upper class' citizens, or at least has a large enough media platform to shame them. In the west, Victorian middle class citizens really took up the idea that social improvement was tied to comportment. We see this kind of thinking all the time still, for instance, I just got an e-mail from Quora with the title "Why do billionaires dress so badly?" Top answer: because they don't have anyone to impress.