Care worker, 31, inherits country estate after DNA test proves he’s the son of an aristocrat
HE SPENT years struggling to make ends meet while working as a care worker.
But Jordan Adlard Rogers’ fortunes have changed dramatically after a DNA test proved he was the illegitimate son of an aristocrat.
The 31-year-old has now moved into a lavish 1,536-acre country estate between Helston and Porthleven in Cornwall.
Jordan said he had spent several years trying to prove its owner, Charles Rogers, was his real father, but Mr Rogers refused to give a DNA sample.
But after he was found dead in his car on the estate last August at the age of 62, a test confirmed they are related.
With Charles’s mother and brother also having passed away, Jordan was left as heir to the grand estate.
He has moved into the lavish Penrose Estate and said he was immersing himself in his new way of life and his newfound family’s history.
The Rogers family has lived on the site between Helston and Porthleven in Cornwall for generations, gifting it to the National Trust in 1974 in exchange for a 1,000-year lease to continue living there.
‘I’m starting to get my feet under the table’
Jordan, who has left his job as a community support worker to live off the proceeds of the estate, which come from rent and investments in stocks and shares, said he could not believe how much his life has changed.
He said: ‘He offered to do a DNA test when I was younger but it didn’t happen. Then when I was 18, I knocked on his door and asked if I could have the test and he told me to do it through the solicitors. I was 18, so had other priorities.’
Jordan, who had suspicions since the age of eight that Charles was his father, added: ‘I’m now starting to get my feet under the table here. People say I’m lucky but I would trade anything to be able to go back and for Charles to know I was his son. Maybe then he might have taken a different path.
‘I don’t need to work any more so want to set up a charity and help the Porthleven and Helston communities. I’ve been at the point of worrying about the next bill and have had a tough start in life but now I’m here, I want to help people.
‘I’m not going to forget where I’ve come from.’ An inquest last week heard that Charles Rogers had struggled with drug abuse for many years and died of an overdose in his car outside the Grade II listed farmhouse on the historic estate.
The inquest, held in Truro, heard that he was malnourished, neglected personal hygiene and rarely changed his clothes in the months leading up to his death. Instead of living in his lavish home, he was sleeping in his car.
Jordan, who has recently had a son with his partner Katie, added: ‘I haven’t been here long and don’t know all the ins and outs but have been able to piece some of the puzzle together.’