An aristocratic family have found themselves in the midst of a tense legal battle with each other after the eldest son brought a lawsuit against his parents when he didn’t inherent their £85m estate.
According to Jonathan Ames at The Times, William Seymour – the 32-year-old Earl of Yarmouth – says he expected to inherit Ragley Hall when he reached the age of 30.
Seymour, who runs a craft elderflower liquor distillery with his ex-Goldman Sachs banker wife, claims the pair were evicted from their cottage on the grounds because his parents – the Marquess and Marchioness of Hertford – didn’t support their marriage.
He reportedly told London’s High Court that the ‘trauma’ of having expectations dashed that he would ‘take over the estate’ at 30 has ‘upended’ his life.
He added that the blow has left him needing ‘professional help and counselling to deal with trauma as a consequence’.
The Times reports Ragley Hall in Warwickshire has been in the family’s possession since the 17th century, and that they are descendants of the brother of Jane Seymour – Henry VIII’s third wife.
The estate includes a Palladian mansion, working farms and several outlying properties, as well as hundreds of acres of woods and parkland.
Lord Hertford claims his son’s relationship with his family ‘deteriorated very sharply’ after he asked his father to ‘hand over Ragley Hall to him when he turned 30’ in 2023.
He also sent what his parents say were ‘hostile and inflammatory’ emails to his marchioness mother Beatriz, Lady Hertford – said to be ‘questioning’ his father’s ‘mental capacity’, which the elder couple say caused ‘enormous upset and anger’.
The court was also told that the earl and his wife clashed with the estate’s trustees over claims that they refused to release funds for their two children’s private school fees, according to The Times.
Lawyers for the Marquess and Marchioness of Hertford and the earl’s three siblings told the court that the earl had behaved in an “unreasonable and vindictive” manner.
Richard Dew, representing the parents and siblings, added that by the time the earl was 21, he had been given more than £4 million in estate land and property. He was said to have shown “little interest in the estate or the trusts” until 2017.
But after starting a relationship with his eventual wife, he was said to have “started to assert himself”. The couple asked to be given financial information about the estate and to attend management meetings, the court was told.
Dew added that since 2018, the earl had done “many things which on any basis would make the trustees cautious in their dealings with him”.
William’s barrister, on the other hand, told Master James Brightwell: “This is not a family dispute. This is a claim against the trustees for their removal.
“That the relationship of trust and confidence between the claimant and the trustees has irretrievably broken down is beyond argument,” he added.
“There is no prospect of these outstanding matters being resolved while the trustees are in office.”
The family remains split by the issue, a divide which now seems irreparable considering the courtroom chaos.
Judge Brightwell is expected to give a judgment on the matter at a later date.