This site is run by an intriguing duo, ‘Lord’ Robert and ‘Lady’ Margaret Farmer. Their whole site, English Feudal Titles, is a complete farrago of nonsense, and any person buying any kind of so-called ‘title’ from them is unlikely to gain any of the magical benefits that they claim come with it, instead he is parting with money merely to get his name changed, something that he could easily do himself for about £20, if he so desired.
To carry out this process, and magically transform you into what they describe as a genuine ‘Duke and Duchess’ or ‘Earl and Countess’, which they refer to as a ‘life title’, a term unknown to any expert in the field, they charge £195 for one person or £295 for a husband and wife.
The cheek of some people is quite unbelievable, as they are also charging a whopping £995 (about $1,800) for a tiny piece – 20 cms by 20 cms, less than 1 square foot – of the ever-present ‘Lady’ Margaret Farmer’s estate in Dartmouth, providing you with a supposed ‘seated title’.
The whole deal is then ‘authenticated’ by the Land Registry in Plymouth, Devon, but so is any land transfer, even of such a minute amount. However, English Feudal Titles make it appear as if the Land Registry is some higher authority on the purchase of titles, when all that it is doing is to confirm that you have bought a tiny plot of land in Dartmouth, completely irrelevant to the legitimacy of the ‘title’.
If you want to change your name by deed poll to whatever you want (within reason) it is a simple, inexpensive process and you certainly do not need to pay English Feudal Titles to do it. However, whatever you decide to call yourself, it will not give you a title.
Their ‘titles’ seem to be exactly the same as the ‘Seated Titles’ that Elite sell, and the prices are equally outrageous, as are the assertions made about the great acclaim and privilege that will accompany these nonsensical acquisitions, which are more likely to cause you to be ridiculed when people discover how you have attained this supposed higher status, instead of being awarded a real title by the Government.
All that English Feudal Titles are actually doing is to designate little plots of land in Dartmouth with famous names like Westminster, Warwick or Waterford, and then changing your name on all your documents so that it appears that you have a title from a specific place, when in reality it relates to a little square of English turf in Devon.
There is no way that it can be described as a proper title or even a so-called Seated one, a term that no knowledgeable authority on the subject would ever recognise as anything legitimate in any case. For this worthless trophy you would have parted with a large amount of bucks – all completely wasted.
‘Lord’ Robert clearly takes the harm that Fake Titles is doing to his business to heart, as he even encourages potential purchasers to impersonate members of our family, by suggesting they choose one of the following as their ‘seated title’: “You might thus become: Lord & Lady Yourname of Newport or Earl & Countess Yourname of Bradford”.
Should you want to view their rather pathetic attempt at justification for selling these supposed ‘titles’, then why not view their new site Fake Titles Info, which mainly consists of slinging much mud in my direction and maligning my motives for letting you know about all these sites on Fake Titles, but the fact that they cannot get away from is that they are removing money from you for something that is quite valueless?
As a final clincher, you might be interested in the advice given out by the Land Registry, an arm of the British Government, about so-called Seated Titles; they provide a straightforward and clear warning:
“The impression might be gained that the land certificate or Title Information Document that we issue is a certification or guarantee by a government department that Mr John Smith is now “officially” Lord John Smith of Mayfair. Please note that the land certificate or Title Information Document does not in any way certify or guarantee this.”
As far as their ridiculous accusations of my ‘selling fake titles’ is concerned, it is certainly true that I attempted to sell the Lordship of the Manor of Boscobel in 1991. It is a perfectly genuine Lordship of the Manor that has been in our family for many generations – in fact it failed to sell and I still own it. However, it was not being sold as a made-up ‘title’, unlike their offerings, as it is real and the actual reason was that we did not own Boscobel any longer, and therefore there seemed little sense in retaining the Lordship of the Manor.
But what is so very wrong about their site is one particular instruction in their FAQs section. “Why then do I need to pay all of the money straight away – why can’t my lawyer hold this money until completion? Their Answer is: As we act for both Vendor and Purchaser (yourself) in this matter there is clearly no need to ask ourselves questions to which we already know the answers.”
If you were purchasing a house, you would make sure that you were separately represented, why do they want to put you off that when you are buying a ‘title’, and also insist on all the money up front? Why? Because any solicitor worth his salt would quickly explain that you would not be buying a ‘title’.
But please don’t ever just rely on my view, consult any specialist on the subject, like Debrett’s or Burke’s Peerage, as they will no doubt tell you to keep your money in your pocket rather than wasting it on these pointless trifles, and, if I have failed to put you off, then do make sure that you are personally represented in the transaction and go to any competent lawyer, who will quickly put you right about the lack of any legitimacy for their ‘titles’.
It may cost you a little to do that, but it might save you a lot!