Care worker inherits estate
A care worker who lived in a council house has inherited a Cornish estate worth £50m.
Jordan Adlard Rogers moved into the 1,536-acre Penrose estate in Cornwall after a DNA test proved he was the son of its late tenant.
Jordan’s mother Julie knew all along that his father was the aristocrat Charles Rogers. But Charles never submitted to a DNA test in his lifetime. It was only after he died last year of a drugs overdose, aged 62, that Jordan could be confirmed as his rightful heir.
In fact, 31-year-old Jordan has become a tenant rather than the outright owner of the estate. The Penrose estate was purchased by Hugh Rogers in 1770 and remained in the Rogers family until 1974. Then, a large part of it was given to the National Trust, including farmland and woodland.
The trust
In return, the Rogers family became life tenants. Granted a 1,000-year lease to continue living there and the right to income generated by the Rogers Family Trust.
According to newspaper reports, the Rogers Family Trust makes money by investing in stocks and shares and by renting land to local farmers.
The income is such that Jordan no longer needs to work for a living. But he’s pledged not to forget his humble upbringing and now wants to help people in the local community.
Jordan has now moved his partner and young son into the manor house. He plans to celebrate with a garden party to raise money for charity.
So it seems as if this is one inheritance story with a happy ending, although there’s one thing Jordan said he’d change if he could.
He told Cornwall Live: “People say I’m lucky but I would trade anything to be able to go back and for Charles to know I was his son. Maybe then he would have taken a different path.”