I've done a lot of research into the Paddington Cinematic Universe and it is cannon that Paddington's bear family was a ruling class in a Peruvian bear apartheid system. In a move to separate themselves from the lesser undesirable bears they spoke with an English accent. Paddington is told that his parents died in an "earthquake" when he was very young but they were actually publicly executed during the warring states period following the fall of apartheid Peruvian bear society. It's the systematic advantages that still existed in the new Democratic Bears Republic of Peru that allowed Paddington to gain enough marmalade to grow up strong and move abroad.