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Laird who inspired TV series leaves £3m will

Laird who inspired TV series leaves £3m will

A Highland laird who was said to have inspired the television series Monarch of the Glen left £3million in his will.

Lord Burton was the basis for the character of eccentric landowner Hector MacDonald, played by the late actor Richard Briers in the popular BBC drama.

The programme’s writer and creator Michael Chaplin visited the peer at his 31,000 acre Dochfour Estate near Inverness to research the series.

The aristocrat, who was born Michael Baillie, died aged 88 last year following illness.

He had an estate valued at £3,186,289 at the time of his death.

He instructed that the majority of his wealth should be left to his wife Baroness Burton, with his farming interests and all his pictures to his son Alexander. He also bequeathed donations of £5,000 and £2,000 to his housekeeper and his secretary respectively.

Lord Burton inherited his barony title along with the vast Bass Brewery fortune from his grand-mother, Lady Nellie Bass, know as the Baroness. Although his peerage owed its name to Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire, Lord Burton often pointed out that two of his ancestors had been kings of Scotland.

A colourful character, he was known to have a quick temper and in 1964 was fined £20 for closing a car bonnet on the hand of a local garage worker who had been examining his car near the entrance to the big house.

He also came into conflict with members of the public who encroached on his property. In 1992 he was found guilty of a breach of the peace on a private road he owned near Inverness. He had frightened a woman by shouting at her, saying she had no right to be on the road.

He denied the charge, claiming that he had a loud voice.

Lord Burton also served on the former Inverness-shire County Council from 1948 to 1975 and the former Inverness District Council from 1984 to 1992. He was Grand Master Mason of Scotland from 1994 to 2000. More than 400 mourners attended his funeral last year when he was carried to his final resting place on a trailer pulled by a gold-painted tractor.

His son Alexander is now running the estate.