Bankrupt self-styled aristocrat “Lord” Battenberg has failed in a bid to claim a slice of his late aunt’s £4million estate in Australia.
He made headlines here when he faced eviction from his Perthshire country mansion Dunfallandy House amid claims he had not paid the rent.
His former chauffeur was also suing him for unpaid wages.
Australian Battenberg – also known as Andrew Lee, Lord Battenberg or Lord Andrew of Craigstown – moved to Scotland, using the name of Lord Leitrim, in 2004.
He left a trail of debt across Scotland.
He was bankrupted in Australia for not paying the costs of an unsuccessful lawsuit against his solicitors over a property deal.
Now Battenberg is back in the legal spotlight. His aunt Minnie Condon died three-and-a-half years ago leading him to launch a lawsuit claiming part of her estate.
Condon, whose banker brother Harold Lee and his wife Ailsa adopted Battenberg, had changed her will in November 2016 to exclude him.
She died the following month, at 86.
Supreme Court judge Trish Henry dismissed Battenberg’s argument that his aunt was thinking irrationally when she signed the new will because she had said it would be “kept under her cat’s bed”.
The court heard evidence that, in mid-2016, his aunt said she was going to a lawyer to change her will and she did not want “Andrew in the will”.
Justice Henry pointed out that Condon told her neighbour that she wanted Battenberg out of her will because he was a “lazy good-for-nothing person that would not work”.
The judge said: “Based on the evidence, it seems to me there was no reasonable cause for investigation or challenge by Mr Battenberg to the 2016 will.”
Battenberg, 57, has now launched an appeal which will be heard next month.
Attempts to contact Battenberg for comment met with no response.
