Let's be precise.
Rolfe was simply a gentleman, [not "a wealthy class  of gentlemen"] and 
according to Beverly he married up not down.
BTW is there any evidence of family influence in any of his three documented 
marriages?

>probably under >ordinary  circumstances he never would have been allowed to 
>marry outside his  class. But since Rebecca was a 'princess', that may have 
>made a  difference.

Philip Barbour, 1971 p. 162: "another tradition, apparently started in 1703 
in Robert Beverly's History, says that King James was on the verge of 
throwing John Rolfe in the Tower for marrying a royal princess without first 
obtaining his permission.

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