Fixer who runs bible of aristocracy
THE man named in the cash-for-access email as ‘representing HRH’ is the chairman of Burke’s Peerage, the 200-year-old reference guide to the nation’s aristocratic families.
William Bortrick, 48, a Northern Irish genealogist who studied history at both Oxford and Cambridge, has been a director at the publisher since 2013.
He now co-owns the company alongside colourful Canadian businessman Sam Malin, who along with his wife Irene, a former X Factor contestant, have appeared taking private jets on Channel 5 reality show Britain’s Flashiest Families and featured on Britain’s Pushiest Parents with their five children. Mr Malin made his money digging for oil in Madagascar and he and his wife now own Ingress Abbey in Kent.
The company hasn’t published a print edition of Burke’s Peerage since 2003. Bortrick was the company’s youngest executive and royal editor when, in 2009, he announced plans to introduce ‘momentous’ changes to the publication by including illegitimate children for the first time.