Montagu of Beaulieu Heir?

[Dapifer de Truchsess]

On my internet wanderings, I found that the brother and heir of the 4th Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, has had children. (https://www.hellomagazine.com/homes/847362/inside-lord-montagus-celebrity-party-home-mick-jagger-michael-jackson/) In this article, it notes that he has four nieces and nephews, plural. Likewise, that no matter what, Palace House Beaulieu will go into a trust for the interest of these relatives. 

The 4th Baron has two siblings:

- Mary Montagu-Scott (the name she uses as married to a Scott)who has two children, Ben Scott & Emilia Scott

- Jonathan Douglas-Scott-Montagu, who as has been reported here, married Nathalie Daoust in 2014. According to this article Nathalie Daoust was 37 in 2014 when she married (https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/11515113.jonathan-montagu-will-tie-the-knot-with-photographer-nathalie-daoust-today/). Since then, according to her Facebook account (https://www.facebook.com/nathalie.daoust.54), they have two children, Akina who seems to have been born in mid 2020; and Theo, who was born May 2025. While it is clear from her Facebook that she carried Akina to term, it is not fully clear if she carried Theo. 

I give my offerings for those of you with better access to records etc. to confirm if this child is a full blooded heir to the Montagu line, and thus bringing this title out of peril at least for a generation. 

[bx...@yahoo.com]

Hi Dapifer.

According to the FB account, the family lives in Berlin, which is where Akina was born, and presumably, Theo as well.

Not sure if there is another way to check on this, but if anyone can figure it out, it's someone in this group.

Brooke

[bx...@yahoo.com]

Checking Kershaw's latest list of hereditary peers, which colinp was kind enough to share with all of us last month, Theo is not included.

Perhaps we will see a change with the next edition.

Brooke

[Richard R]

Thanks for this. See earlier May 2023 post regarding Akina's birth date: https://groups.google.com/g/peerage-news/c/Hm2i-Hwsua4/m/q_FwMu5GAQAJ 

[colinp]

Dapifer, do I take it you think there is a possibly that Theo was born by a surrogate or some artificial means? Or is your doubt because there are no facebook photos of the mother pregnant?  Just trying to read between the lines.... Personally I think that if there is no indication to the contrary one should assume that the infant is a "full bloodied heir"

[Dapifer de Truchsess]

Its more a possibility that it was not, due as I mentioned to the mother being 37 at the time of the wedding in 2014 and thus 48/49 in 2025/2026. It is not impossible. I do not wish to cast doubt or a pall on this beautiful moment for this family. I am simply noting that it is not always a possibility at this age. 

This echoes a conversation had regarding the birth of his namesake Theo Butler, son of the Viscount Mountgarret (found here: https://groups.google.com/u/1/g/peerage-news/c/uxuL5D3ArrI/m/APwXtwdUAwAJ) 

[colinp]

Oh I see. I take your point

[S. S.]

It is not too unusual for a woman to give birth as late as she did. The age of onset for menopause fluctuates. Though, as pointed earlier, she may have had their child carried to term via a surrogate. Should the sperm and ova be of the couple but implanted in a surrogate and carried to term, the resulting child would be legitimate and thus eligible to inherit the peerage. I think if the second scenario is true, we will observe this occuring more often for titled families as well in future.

S.S.

[bx...@yahoo.com]

Any thoughts as to why Theo's birth announcement wasn't  done on the Beaulieu website, while Akira's was?

Especially  considering Theo would be  second in the line of succession, it wouldn't have been unreasonable to believe his birth would have been announced in a similar manner.

Brooke

[colinp]

At Companies House Jonathan uses the surname MONTAGU DAOUST (see registration for Omass Therapeutics Ltd)

[Guru]

Newspapers can easily be wrong. She may have been considerably younger than 37 when she married.

[Jonathan]

According to Wikipedia at least, Nathalie Daoust was born on 31 March 1977.

[Dapifer de Truchsess]

Indeed, and if you google "Nathalie Daoust Age" several websites include the year 1977 independently. So we can confirm she is in her late 40s. 

I feel like I have opened a can of worms casting doubt on such a thing now, and I feel quite bad about it. 

[colinp]

Dear S.S., I am not sure the position is quite as clear cut as you have indicated.  I have just been reviewing the very interesting article by Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw Bt KC (who represented the successful party in the Pringle case) and Dr Gillian Black which appeared in the last 2019 DPB print edition called "The Pringle of Stichill Dispute: Illegitimacy, Discrimination, Genetics and the case for Reform".  I think some of the research behind the article has also appeared in the Cambridge Law Review but you probably need a subscription to read it. The learned authors in discussing "Assisted Reproduction:Surrogacy" state that the surrogate (or gestational, birth) mother is always, under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 the first legal mother and she only loses that status when the "commissioning couple" (ie the couple receiving the treatment, in your scenario the genetic parents) obtain from the court (which checks that the required procedures set out in the 2008 Act have been complied with) a parental order which then transfers the legal parental status to them.  Once granted the parental order ensures that the child will be the legal child of the commissioning couple for all purposes but there is an exclusion denying children the right to succeed to peerages and baronetcies where their legal relationship with their parents arises through the statutory provisions of the 2008 Act regulating surrogacy.

I suppose (although this is not specifically covered in the article) that where  married commissioning and also genetic parents  implant the in vitro fertilised ovum into the genetic mother (ie also the commissioning mother) then the problem of whether the child is legitimate is not an issue provided of course the child is treated as being lawfully "begotten" as required by the terms of the letters patent.  I would assume a child conceived in vitro is begotten but some may think not.

[Jonathan]

Dapifer de Truchsess, I'm not sure whether you saw this, but if you check the "Likes" section of Nathalie Daoust's Facebook page, she has added several pages relating to surrogacy in Tbilisi, Georgia, as well as a nursery school in that same city. It looks as if you could well be correct.

[bx...@yahoo.com]

Do the children appear in DPB online?  I no longer have a subscription.

Brooke

[Richard R]

Akina is the only child to appear in DPB online

[bx...@yahoo.com]

thepeerage.com has recently updated Jonathan's information, and now includes Theo, with a birth date of c. 17 May 2025.

https://thepeerage.com/p8083.htm#i80823

Brooke