Lady Violet Manners – whose younger brother will inherit The Crown’s Belvoir Castle – says ‘male primogeniture is there to sustain and maintain these places’ and insists it gets ‘complicated when you include the female line’

• Lady Violet Manners, 30, whose family resides at Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, spoke to The Telegraph about her plans for the future
• READ MORE: National Trust chairman says the charity must ‘move with the times’

Lady Violet Manners has revealed she ‘loathes’ the word woke as she declared her ‘enormous respect for tradition’.

The socialite, 30 – who is running for candidacy for the National Trust’s advisory council – has accepted the fate that her brother, Charles, Marquess of Granby, 24, will inherit Belvoir Castle, their 15,000 acre estate in Leicestershire, despite her being the eldest sibling.

She claimed that while ‘male primogeniture’ – the system in which assets and properties are passed down to only male relatives – ‘looks incredibly outdated and backward-looking, but it is there to sustain and maintain these places’.

‘It does get a bit complicated when you include the female line,’ she told The Telegraph. ‘Surnames are lost and all that kind of thing.’ 

The former Dolce & Gabana model, who told the outlet she currently doesn’t have any plans for marriage, also added that the custom of taking your husband’s surname ‘still rings true’ to her.

Lady Violet Manners (pictured in 2017) revealed she ‘loathes’ the word woke as she declared her ‘enormous respect for tradition’

‘I have enormous respect for tradition,’ she said. ‘Which is probably why I am standing in this election.’ 

Violet said that she feels the charity – which has faced accusations of being swayed by modern views following a controversial report which linked a number of its properties to colonialism and slavery – has ‘hyper-politicised itself’.

She wants to see it be a ‘brave and brazen’ upholder of its founding values and commitment to educating people across all generations on Britain’s past.

The Trust first became embroilment in controversy in 2020 when the organisation produced a report investigating the connections between the charity’s properties and colonialism, including its links with historic slavery.

It included mention of Sir Winston Churchill’s family home, Chartwell, which served as Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1921 to 1922 and detailed the former Prime Minister’s opposition to India gaining independence.

A row with ministers ensued with 26 MPs and two peers arguing the organisation’s funding applications be reviewed.

The then chairman, Tim Parker, who held the post for seven years, stepped down, with the charity claiming he did so after staying beyond his term to see the Trust through the pandemic.

Last year, the current chairman René Olivieri said that while the Trust must make its buildings appeal to more people, modern perspectives must not take precedence over those of the past.

The socialite (second left), 30, has accepted the fate that her brother, Charles, Marquess of Granby, 24, (right) will inherit Belvoir Castle. Pictured left, Lord Hugo Manners. Pictured centre, Lady Alice Manners and, second right, Lady Eliza Manners

She and her sisters – Alice and Eliza – were once dubbed the ‘real-life crawly sisters’ for their antics on the London social scene. Violet and Alice pictured in June

Violet is the eldest daughter of The Duke of Rutland and Emma Manners, the Duchess of Rutland (pictured with her daughters in 2018) – who lives in a separate wing of Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire from her estranged husband

‘Added to which, we are all entitled to ask different questions about the past,’ he said. ‘A new view, however, does not supersede its predecessors, nor can it eclipse other perspectives.

‘Each is another thread in the tapestry of our understanding, adding colour, richness and depth.’

Meanwhile, Lady Violet was also full of praise for her mother, who she says encouraged her daughters ‘to go and create their own lives’. 

The pair even worked on a podcast – Duchess – together, with Violet on as producer and Emma, the presenter.

According to its website, the show explores ‘the heritage of Great Britain & Ireland, and meets the inspiring people responsible for its custodianship’.

Violet is the eldest daughter of The Duke of Rutland and Emma Manners, the Duchess of Rutland – who lives in a separate wing of Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire from her estranged husband.

She and her sisters – Alice and Eliza – were once dubbed the ‘real-life crawly sisters’ for their antics on the London social scene, but since the first national lockdown have been spending vast amounts of time on the family’s estate. 

Violet also has two younger brothers – Charles Manners, Marquess of Granby and Lord Hugo Manners.

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