Saturday, March 31, 2012

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD 1989


Alexander, Viscount of Mandevllle, provides quotes in this story and offers to sell his title.

"Some, like the youthful Viscount Mandeville, Baron Montagu, Heir to the 13th Earl of Manchester, whose father is Lord Angus Charles Drogo Montagu, has actually abandoned Australia to find recognition elsewhere. After his traumatic imprisonment a few years ago, for fraud when he was 24, he went to live in the United States. He says that he endured a troubled childhood, devoid of love.
"I do enjoy the title," said Alexander Montagu (whose mother Mary Montagu was the country's sole resident duchess before she divorced Alexander's father), from his Beverley Hills home. "But in Australia I would have been a 100 per cent better person without it.
"In fact, of all the countries I've been, the United States thinks the title is great. In Australia, the only thing it got me was free admission to nightclubs. That's about it. But really, to me, the title is meaningless. I'm struggling to survive like anyone else, though my mother thinks it's something special."
Baron Montagu claims that a Texan millionaire offered him millions for his title. He refused the overtures. Besides, he's already making enough dough out of endorsements for hotels, beer and after-shaves. The Americans marvel that he should have such a title all, what with his unlordly Australian accent. He claims to be the highest titled Australian - 52nd in line to the throne of England. If some heinous act decimated the other 51 notables, young Alexander could well be the first King with a (disclosed) criminal background.
In the quite comfortable meantime, Baron Montagu can expect, apart from his apparently burgeoning career in the United States, to inherit the wealth from the family's estates in Britain, the US and Kenya, held in a multi-million dollar trust-fund.
Clearly, some members of the nobility can make fast money from their titles in the Antipodes, without having to resort to the American fascination."

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