Frequently Asked Questions

You can’t simply buy your way into the British peerage. True royal titles are either inherited or granted by the Queen. This includes titles like duke, viscount, earl, and baron (and their female equivalents). Selling these titles is actually against the law. 

Buying a legitimate manorial title isn’t cheap. Last year, the Lordship of the Manor of Arthuret, which had been held by the same family for more than four centuries, went up for auction and was expected to sell for £120,000 to £160,000. In 2014, the Lordship of the Manor of Whaplode Abbots went on sale for £96,500. The Earl Spencer sold the Lordship of the Manor of Wimbledon for £171,000 in 1996. 

In most cases, it’s just the manorial title that is being sold. But occasionally, these titles are sold along with other property, like a manor house that was recently on the market for £750,000. The purchaser would have been able to call themselves Lord or Lady of Horton. 

 Sometimes, it’s a family that’s looking to raise some cash by putting a bit of its history up for sale, to raise money for upkeep of a castle or manor. For example the Duke of Rutland held such an auction to raise funds to renovate Belvoir castle's Grade 1 listed building. It was believed that historical paintings and  Lordships were sold off for the project. 

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The information provided in this website is both publicly available information & research conducted by our historians. We are a small team, with passion for history.