11/10/2023 0 Comments Downton abbey family tree![]() These days, holding a hereditary title comes with no stipend or property from the state. But for many they are a mark of prestige and social status more impressive than anything money can buy. The titles - earls, viscounts, barons, marquesses and dukes - no longer indicate great wealth. It’s still a man’s world when it comes to inheritance among Britain’s peerage, an archaic system of feudal class and power that first took shape almost a millennium ago around the time of the Norman Conquest. “Downton Abbey” might be set in the early 20th century and its characters might be fictional, but the effects of a centuries-old rule that puts boys before girls are very real to Torrington and hundreds of hereditary peers in modern Britain. “But I suppose I would rather someone inherit it than have it dying out.” “It’s a sadness in life that my wife and I never had a son,” said the viscount, who lives with his wife in the countryside west of London. For his title to live on in future generations, the 69-year-old has no choice but to pass it to a distant relative abroad, someone he has not even met. Like the fictional character Lord Grantham, the aristocrat has three daughters but no sons. ![]() ![]() ![]() LONDON - Viscount Timothy Torrington’s story reads like a real-life version of “Downton Abbey,” the hit period drama about the family of an earl who has no direct heir to inherit his title. Digital Replica Edition Home Page Close Menu ![]()
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