Question:
Is Buying A Title (Lady) legitimate?
Ellie
2012-01-17 23:06:29 UTC
I want to get a unique birthday gift for my friend. She's a dreamer, and she's always wanted to be of nobility. Well, obviously she isn't from a noble family and lives in the US, where we don't have nobility. I saw an ad for HighlandTitles.com where (it says) you can buy a foot of land and a title. Is this a scam or is it legit? I know it's illegal in Britain, but is it legal in Scotland?
Ten answers:
anonymous
2012-01-19 05:10:49 UTC
It's *legal*, yes - in the sense that the sale of the square foot of land (such as it is) is a valid property transaction, and that British law entitles people to assume any name they like, however mad, provided it isn't obscene, blasphemous or assumed for fraudulent purposes (e.g. to steal another person's identity). In Britain you could adopt the name 'Emperor Ptang-Yang Kipperbang the Twenty-Seventh of Barataria' if you like, and it would be perfectly legal. So, yes, people who spend money at sites like highlandtitles.com can call themselves 'Laird of Glencoe' if they're silly enough to do that, and they won't be breaking any law.



What it is *not* is a legitimate title. Highlandtitles.com and similar scam merchants have created a fantasy riff on the Scottish title of 'laird', which historically means "a member of the gentry who owns a specific, substantial landed estate". Here's how they have inflated it:



1. There has never been a definitive list of lairds, or a precise definition of how much land you need to own to be one. But, roughly speaking, if you owned the whole valley of Glencoe, or at least the majority of it including the village called Glencoe, you could reasonably call yourself Laird of Glencoe. The scam merchants have exploited the vagueness of the term to suggest - which is *entirely* untrue - that anyone owning even a scrap of land in Scotland can call themselves a laird. Anyone who stops to think for even a second can see how stupid this idea is - imagine a country where everyone who owned so much as a pigsty had a posh title!



2. So they buffer the notion by suggesting that there's something so special about historic estates, that ownership of even a square foot of one of them entitles the new owner to call themself 'Laird of Glencoe'. This is also entirely untrue. There is only ever one person at a time entitled to call himself Laird of any given place - if several of you own bits of a place, none of you is laird of it.



3. They then state that, because the word 'Laird' has the same derivation as the word 'Lord', it's perfectly legit for a laird to call himself a lord. This also is entirely untrue. Yes, the two words have the same origin in Old English, 1,000 years ago - but over the centuries they came to mean two different things. (Just to put this in context: the words 'skirt' and shirt' have the same derivation in Old English, but they now mean two very different things!) Scotland has both Lairds and Lords, and they are entirely distinct from each other.



So, you know your friend best. If you think she would enjoy having a silly fantasy title, by all means buy her one. Just be kind and warn her to enjoy it in private, and not actually to go around calling herself 'Lady X of Glencoe ' unless she wants to make herself a figure of fun.
anonymous
2016-12-12 09:58:47 UTC
Buying A Title
profetto
2016-10-05 06:10:32 UTC
Lord And Lady Titles
capitalgentleman
2012-01-18 00:20:57 UTC
No - it is a total scam.



Titles are an honour from the Monarch. These people claim that owning land in Scotland makes you a Laird - NOT a lord. But, it doesn't. A Laird is something like a Squire in England - not a title at all, but a word for a person who owns a lot of land. Not a square foot!



The only "title" you can buy is a Lord/Lady of the Manor. This is not a Peerage title, but, a piece of real (as in real estate) property. They were once attached to actual manors, but, they aren't anymore. An owner of one can call themselves by their name, then "Lord/Lady of the Manor of _____." They are NOT Lord or Lady NAME.



They have a varied cost, but 3000-20000 pounds is typical. The similar legal thing in Scotland is a Barony - which is the one "title" that can be bought, although it is again, not a Peerage. But, because the word "Baron" is used, they cost a lot more: 50,000 pounds or more. Even if the title is meaningless.
anonymous
2012-01-18 09:06:51 UTC
No. You can't buy a legitimate title.



And this has nothing to do with royalty.
AdamKadmon
2012-01-18 08:32:33 UTC
There's an old Custom in Scotland that says you can "call yourself" Laird (Lord) or Lady of your Castle basically. That's the same thing your father does when he calls himself "King" of the Castle or Home. In other words, you buy a foot of property and they "give" you a FAKE title of Laird or Lady. Get it? You are not really a lord or lady, but by "custom" you can call yourself that. ITS FAKE (sadly).
anonymous
2012-01-17 23:20:31 UTC
Not unless you are also buying a Dukedom, Marquessate, or Earldom for her father!



Those things are a scam. Only the Queen grants peerages.
anonymous
2016-04-09 09:21:43 UTC
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No. So sorry, but its not legit. When asked "Is this really legal?" they say "Yes, this is 100% legal. You are truly purchasing a Scottish Highland Estate in Glencoe, Scotland." SEE. You are purchasing a Scottish Highland Estate in Glencoe, Scotland. THEN THEY SAY, "As the owner of a Scottish estate, you will have the full rights to style yourself as a Laird (Lord) or Lady. This is the same wherever you live in the world." IN OTHER WORDS: all you have to do in order to "call yourself" a Lord is to own an estate. period. They aren't selling titles, just land. Along with the land they are telling you, "hey, you own an estate, so call yourself a lord!" Titles don't work that way. You CAN buy titles. Prince Frederick von Anhalt (Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband) bought his for $50,000 by paying a Princess to adopt him (she did this often for money). Then Life magazine once did an article on people who bought certain titles (the magazine articles was in the early 1980's I believe). However, this site is not selling titles. They're selling land and telling you, you can call yourself a lord.
anonymous
2016-06-12 09:52:18 UTC
"...obviously she isn't from a noble family and lives in the US..." Your question answered.
anonymous
2012-01-18 08:07:34 UTC
It is if you get it from me.


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