I bought my friend a lordship at Sealand one year for Christmas. I'd been thinking about the Scotland thing first, but decided I'd rather gift him a real title in an arguably fake country than a fake title in a real one.
I was hoping there was going to be some minimum definition, and that I could call myself Lord, but alas, my ~300m^2 of land doesn't seem to qualify me either (I live there, I didn't get scammed ~3k times over for 1 sq foot).<p>I mean honestly if you could be a lord with 1 square foot, there would be a lot of lords in Scotland due to the ownership nature of buying a house (very little of this "leasehold" thing that's prevalent in England). My parents would be a lord and lady, so would their parents...<p>I've not encountered these ads though, I guess it would be pretty dumb to geo-target it to people <i>living</i> in Scotland.<p>Edit, on the other hand, if you buy a house and let it out, I guess you can be a land lord, even if you still can't call yourself lord.
This was a great and informative article, but one thing it misses is that there is in fact another way to purchase a 'legitimate' peerage title (though the cost is much much higher). I recall reading about it a while back here [1]. Basically, you pay a (broke) noble family to legally adopt you. Apparently there's brokers and everything to get you connected.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-02/even-if-you-weren-t-born-into-nobility-you-can-buy-your-way-in" rel="nofollow">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-02/even-if-y...</a>
With every bottle of Laphroaig (Scotch Whisky from Islay) comes a code you can use to register 1 square foot of land at the Laphroaig Distillery on Islay. Of course, it's also only vanity, but you can actually visit the plot and they pay you "rent" (1 dram of Whisky at the bar) when you visit the distillery.
don't be stupid; buy her a star: <a href="https://starregister.org/" rel="nofollow">https://starregister.org/</a><p>EDIT: lol<p>> NFT Star<p>> While we are 30 years old, we use the newest and most innovative technology.
All Sparklingly Star Register Stars are backed and verified on the Ethereum Blockchain through an NFT (Non Fungible Token).
NOTE: The NFTs will be minted in July 2022 and customers will receive instructions on how to receive theirs then.
> If you’ve been on the internet much, you’ve probably encountered an advertisement at some point claiming that, if you own any amount of land in Scotland, even if it is only one square foot, then you legally qualify for the title of “lord” or “lady.”<p>I've been on the internet a lot, sometimes even without ads blocked, and never encountered this. Do they geotarget Americans?
Right when Detroit was at it's lowest and about to declare bankruptcy I had a friend buy an empty lot, put up a website and sell a square foot of the city to anyone. In Michigan at least it attracted a lot of publicity.<p>The website is long gone and although you got a deed I'm not certain you really owned anything. If you did you'd owe taxes and Detroit is pretty aggressive about collections.<p><a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/evicted-101-year-old-detroit-woman-home-back-article-1.1056341?comment=true" rel="nofollow">https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/evicted-101-year-o...</a>
This is fraud, they are literally selling you nothing.<p>They sued a Member of the Scottish Parliament for writing a blog which explains the tax haven structure they use. <a href="http://www.andywightman.com/archives/4152" rel="nofollow">http://www.andywightman.com/archives/4152</a><p>Don't believe any similar claims they make like "reintroducing lynx" they are doing no such thing.<p>It's just a way to get people to give them money in return for nothing.
Laphroaig used to give land with every whisky purchase: <a href="https://www.scoopwhoop.com/Laphroaig-whisky-free-land-in-Scotland/" rel="nofollow">https://www.scoopwhoop.com/Laphroaig-whisky-free-land-in-Sco...</a>
> It is not possible for someone to buy their way into lordship or ladyship.<p>Life peerages are still routinely created (excessively so, in fact) and, arguably, giving generously to your favourite political party might improve your chances of getting one.
These people give titles for free:<p><a href="https://www.ulc.org/" rel="nofollow">https://www.ulc.org/</a><p>I am an ordained minister and a "Brother". I own almost 70 acres of rural land so I'm not interested in buying another square foot.
The description of the businesses feels like someone took the Laprophiag online membership gift of a "plot of land", which clearly a joke, and tried to commercialize it. I wonder which plot of land fake happened first?<p>Also glad to know from the article I can just go around now calling myself a "Laird"
My wife and I bought one for our cat as a gag. We hope they plant a tree. Even if they don't, it's brought me enough amusement to be worth it.
If you're looking for a traditional title, why not buy membership in a London livery company? I believe some of them can be joined for a fee nowadays. This awards you Freedom of the City of London, which comes with some ancient privileges like the right to carry a sword in public and the right to herd sheep over London Bridge.
Sure, but the rumor is believed by just enough people that you can get away with selecting 'Lord' in every single paper or electronic form that asks for a title.
I find the following passage interesting in the context of modern capitalism:<p>> In the United Kingdom, “lord” and “lady” are peerage titles, meaning a person can only hold the legal recognition, privileges, and protections associated with those titles if they rightfully inherit them, if they marry into a noble family, or if the queen grants them a peerage. Since the only hereditary peerages the queen has granted in decades have been to members of the royal family, realistically, the only ways a person can become a lord or lady are either by inheritance or by marrying into a noble family. It is not possible for someone to buy their way into lordship or ladyship.<p>I think some people are angry at the fact that there remain positions of privilege in the Western world that one cannot buy their way into, or be elected to (e.g. President), or grind toward (e.g. CEO). I wonder whether that's a form of envy.
I researched these a while ago and the way these “titles” work is simple: you change your name by deed poll to “Lord Appleseed” or whatever you fancy.<p>Although amusingly while they say deed poll, there’s no such concept in law. In actuality you just start using your new name and that’s basically it.
When I was much (much) younger I bought one of these titles. Obviously its complete BS and I never called myself a 'Laird' because its cringe. But you would be surprised how beautifully put together the packages are. The paper is like thick parchment and there is this nice looking wax seal. They also put together a kit with lots of information and photographs of your so-called "land." The land that I "bought" was part of a nature preservation project so they were at least using some of the money to do something good with. I'm not saying its not completely misleading. But I think it would still be a cool gift for someone if it was priced right.
Shamefully, a few YouTubers I have subscribed to for a while started shilling this bullshit as video sponsorships.<p>Needless to say, as soon as I looked up the company (it smelled more like bullshit than a cattle farm) - I saw on a rudimentary Google Search that; of <i>course</i> you can’t buy a square foot of land and be a ‘Lord’.<p>Needless to say, I got rid of those subscriptions right after.<p>It’s unfortunate how some YouTubers who get sponsored either don’t even Google the companies they shill for, or in the case of someone like AVGN shilling ‘Raid Shadow Legends’ - they know what they’re shilling is complete shit.
> My most recent McDaniel ancestor who actually lived in Scotland is John McDaniel, who was born in Scotland in around 1760. By 1776, he was living in Frederick County, Maryland. I myself have lived my whole life in the United States and have never even visited Scotland. I do not consider myself Scottish and instead consider myself only an American.<p>This is the most American paragraph ever written.
This practice led to a big defamation case involving a Scottish politician. Seems like the company involved was basically a tax avoidance scheme.<p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-51832504" rel="nofollow">https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-51832504</a>
I had some dude try and rope me into one of these land banking scams. He wanted me to build some wordpress site to convince people they could do this on some property he owned. I pretty much told him this: Sketchy people ripping off other sketchy people is funny, but ripping off people with less money than you is a really lame thing to do and not something I'd support whatsoever. I can copy paste one of his messages in reply to that (sic): "Im pretty sure you havent done any ethical hacking in the best of present so talking about sketchy pyramid whatever makes no sence. I told you very clearly i dont do shady illegal bullshit what we do is 100% legit focused on protecting earth and helping people"<p>I blocked and deleted that contact after sending them a famous obscene image from back in the day which starts with a g and ends in oatse. Land banking schemes are fraud.
> it occurred to me that the target market for these fake title companies overlaps considerably with the online history community.<p>Reading any amount of European history and coming away with a desire to have a title of nobility is bizarre to me.
Sure you can. The reality is that titles are no longer protected, and you will no longer get your land taken away and your head cut off for declaring yourself a lord.<p>The idea that titles matter is the one that is dead on its arse.
This has been a thing for <i>years</i>, probably even decades. It’s a gag gift but sometimes people take it far too seriously. I’m pretty sure someone on the British show Come Dine With Me had one of these and called themselves a Lady, and everyone thought she was legit. Madness.
> One example of a person who has become a laird is the British novelist J. K. Rowling, who is best known as both the author of the bestselling series of children’s novels Harry Potter and also arguably the most influential proponent of transphobia in the English-speaking world today.<p>It should be noted that JK Rowling does not identify as a transphobe.
Oh the Lord Barron puns that lurk about a famous orange golf cheater known to own Scottish Land of certain golf course overlooked by modern wind machines.
This hit piece offers much fact but misses the mark on the intent.p and usage. I looked into to this last year and they clearly state you do not own the land and you get a laird title by being part of this estate and the land is held in their name. I don't think anyone thought you are getting an official lordship from the queen. If you did you would be forced to give up your citizenship in Canada unless the prime minister blesses you. You can buy official titles for thousands of dollars but no one expects the same.<p>The amount of people who are scottish or have historical roots to Scotland is very high. People buy clan colors, people buy fun titles because they want to feel connected to a history that has shaped who they have become.