9/16/2013

All's Fair?


 Lady Sarah Carnegie

Some of you will remember the start of Downton Abbey started with Lady Mary being unable to inherit because her previously arranged marriage to her cousin, the heir presumptive was in jeopardy because of his terribly inconvenient death on the Titanic. They then had to search for the rightful heir, who turned out to be someone they had never met. This has happened in real life.

In 2010 the 14th Earl of Northesk died from cancer and because he had no living sons his title was passed to a man he had never met! The 14th earl has three living daughters, Lady Sarah Carnegie, 30, Lady Fiona Carnegie, 26, and Lady Sophie Carnegie, 23, none of whom are eligible to inherit the title because they are the wrong sex. They have attempted to persuade the Crown Office to pass the title on down the female line instead, but have lost. So the title will go to the now 15th Earl of Northesk, Patrick Carnegy. Carnegy is a 72-year-old scholar of Wagner and Shakespeare. He was the eighth cousin, once removed, of the 14th Earl, whom he had never even met.


Ethie Castle
 
The new Earl of Northesk will not inherit much more than the title, as there is very little money and the former seat; Ethie Castle was sold in the 1990’s. Ethie Castle dates from about 1300 and is about 3 miles north of the fishing town of Abroath in Angus, Scotland. The Carnegie family, who went on to become the Earls of Northesk, eventually purchased the castle in 1665. A famous guest was Sir Walter Scott who later based fictional Castle of Knockwhinnock that he writes about in.  Perhaps he will inherit the ghosts of Ethie which are said to be a Grey Lady spectre as well as by David Beaton.  Beaton was the Abbot of nearby Arbroath Abbey in the 16th century.

This all stems from Primogeniture, which is the law that the firstborn son inherits an estate. This allowed for estates to pass down from generation to generation intact. If there are no sons, the inheritance passes to the nearest male in order of descent. In order to ensure that if the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s could inherit the crown regardless of sex, they succession to the Crown Act 2013 was enacted. So if Prince George, was Princess Georgianna, she could have inherited the crown.   
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