Who's a Peer?

David James Douglas, 38, seventh Baron Nugent of Clonlost. is six feet of muscle, charm and upper-class English accent. He was hand-picked in Britain last summer from a crop of 18 eligible noblemen to star in a filmed TV series with U.S. Singer Vicki Benet (TIME. Aug. 1). Since his arrival in Hollywood last month for the filming of the show, he has been getting the standard treatment of cocktail parties, press interviews and deals with advertisers (in exchange for a few publicity photos, Chrysler Corp. put a Dodge at the baron's disposal).

Last week disaster struck. Mike Kaplan, a reporter for the trade paper Variety, after checking Nugent's credentials at the British consulate, headlined the bad news. The consulate's information officer had reported that Nugent was not listed in either Debrett's or Burke's Peerage.

With British pluck. Lord Nugent fought back. Fluttering his credentials in a TV interview, he explained that he was in Debrett's and Burke's but listed under the name of a relative, the Earl of Westmeath. Nugent further explained that his family's patriotism was the cause of all the trouble. An Irish ancestor named Walter Nugent served with other relatives in the Austrian army and was made Baron Nugent of Clonlost by the Emperor Franz Josef in 1859. When the first baron's descendants returned to England, the title was authenticated by a royal warrant signed by Britain's Edward VII in 1908. But with the advent of World War I, Nugent's grand-uncle--like many other holders of Teutonic titles--not only dropped his barony but formally petitioned his King for permission to renounce it. The permission was belatedly granted in 1920, two years after the war was over. Says the baron plaintively: "My father and I revived the title because no one has a right to renounce a title for his heirs."

In London, the confusion seemed as impenetrable as in Hollywood. Said one expert on the peerage: "If you recognize the validity of the Austrian title, I shouldn't see why it would matter. Is Farouk Mr. Farouk because he lost his kingdom?" But a spokesman for Burke's ruled sternly: "Until the title is formally restored, it cannot be recognized in Britain." In Hollywood, TV Producer Jack Elliott, who is putting together the Baron Nugent-Vicki Benet series, took a meat-and-potatoes view of the case: "The show has been put off until this thing gets cleared up. We don't want to put our backers in a spot."

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