Downton-style row over who inherits baron’s £60m estate

family line. Ms Murray has said that she is “already doing a man’s job” running the estate.

Speaking when her father fell ill four years ago, she said: “In this day and age, with supposed equality, why am I not allowed to inherit my father’s title? It’s discriminatory.” She added: “It boils down to this. If I was a boy, I Amanda Murray with her father Robin Neville, the 10th Baron Braybrooke, who died last week. Inset: Richard Neville, who inherits the title of baron, and the Countess of Derby, Ms Murray’s sister. Below: Audley End, the family estate would be sitting pretty.” It is not yet known whether Ms Murray will be allowed to carry on living at her father’s estate, which has been in their family since 1788.

Ms Murray and her siblings are notoriously private but Caroline Neville, the next eldest sister, has been known to hit the headlines.

In 1994, Ms Neville became known as the “posh Essex girl” who was thought to be Prince Andrew’s then latest squeeze.

But the rumours were quickly quashed by her engagement to the Earl of Derby just a few months later. She married him to become the Countess of Derby. Downton Abbey creator and Tory peer Lord Fellowes weighed into the debate and said he sympathises with the plight of Ms Murray.

He said: “It seems rather hard on Amanda. She’s lived and worked there all her adult life.”

The Royal laws of succession were changed in 2013 ahead of the birth of Prince George and they are now gender neutral.

But Lord Fellowes claims there is no easy solution with regards to peerage. He said: “Simply making the peerage the equivalent of the Royal Family would create a great chaos for many families...whose sons have for 30, 40, 50 years made the assumption of inheriting. One can’t just brush them aside.”

Lord Fellowes has previously said it was “outrageous” that his wife, Emma, a descendant of Earl Kitchener, the famous First World War field marshal, had no right to inherit the title when the third Earl, who was childless, died in 2011.

The Audley End estate is run by English Heritage and attracts around 135,000 visitors every year. It has also featured in the Netflix series The Crown.