Part of the confusion about high tea vs. afternoon tea is the tourist industry. I could swear that I’ve seen “high tea” promoted in Britain advertising scones, tea sandwiches, etc. I looked it up online.They said the same thing you did about high tea being a working class meal and then went on to promote “high tea” recipes for scones and fancy foods. P.S. The Queen Mary 2 called it “high tea”.
afternoon tea