Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

While Lady Mary no longer has to worry about not inheriting Downton Abbey due to the birth of baby George, real life aristocratic women in Britain are not so fortunate. They are still grappling with what’s known as hereditary peerage laws that still state that land and titles need to pass from father to son - period. Daughters are then out of luck as they find their land and titles may go to a male third cousin twice removed whom they never met.

The Duchess of Cambridge, aka Kate Middleton won’t have to deal with this problem. Even though she, like Lady Mary had a boy, also named George, British parliament changed British law before the little royal was born so that now first born girls can inherit the throne.

Aristocratic women are fighting for the so called Downton Abbey law to be applied more equally.

Listen to the NPR story about the women championing to change the law. What do you think of the story?