On Saturday night, a Scottish aristocrat with a love for surfing was tragically discovered dead at the base of cliffs.
40-year-old Alexander Sutherland, Lord Strathnaver, was discovered at the base of 30 foot cliffs in Thurso East, Caithness, not far from the demolished Thurso Castle from the 19th century.
According to Thurso Lifeboat, a rescue boat was launched at 11.30 p.m. in response to reports of a person on the rocks.
Crew members with experience in casualty care quickly arrived at the scene in an inflatable Y boat.
They found the victim, administered CPR, and helped the local coastguard and Scottish Ambulance Service handle the situation until Police Scotland took charge, according to a lifeboat group spokesperson.
Lord Strathnaver was the lone child of Alistair Sutherland, the 25th Earl of Sutherland, who assumed the title in 2019. He would have turned 41 years old next month.
The family had already experienced tragedy when, in 2019, Jamie Janson, 44, the great-nephew of scandal-plagued Conservative minister John Profumo and the son of the Earl’s twin brother Martin, committed suicide.
A friend reported that Lord Strathnaver had spent the weekend at Dunnet, the northernmost point of mainland Britain, where the Tunes in the Dunes music festival was taking place.
He was an avid surfer and owned a home not far from Thurso East, one of the best spots in the UK for surfing.
Sadly, Al was beyond repair. He was such a sweet guy and always seemed to be in a good mood.
He was unassuming. I only knew him as Al; I did not know him as Lord Strathnaver.
He loved surfing and used to go out every day, which is why he owned a home in Thurso East.
Additionally, he ran a tiny surf shop. It seems he attended the music event, departed, and could have been returning. Such a tragic loss has occurred.
The 24th Countess of Sutherland, his maternal grandmother, passed away January 2019 at the age of 98.
Due to the countess’s passing, Alistair, the oldest son, was made Earl of Sutherland and received the 120,000-acre estate of Dunrobin Castle in Sutherland.
Alexander, his son, was given the title of Lord Strathnaver.
The £18 million will, which his mother, Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland, signed three days before she passed away, left £250,000 to the Earl’s twin brother Martin, who is just a few minutes younger.
Jamie Janson, a former relief worker, committed himself in 2019. Jamie’s father, Martin, who is married to Mary, a niece of the former Constabulary, also experienced sorrow.
Mr. Janson, 44, was detained on suspicion of terrorism-related offences upon his return to the UK in March 2018. He had gone to Syria to fight ISIS.
It is believed that he was a resident of London at the time of his death. He had been released on investigation hold but had never been charged with a crime.
Martin Janson, his father, who is 72 years old, told MailOnline: “My son Jamie committed suicide at the age of 44.
We are all in shock as a family and do not want to discuss the situation. It is sad, and we are all trying to cope with it.
The family home in the north of Scotland will host a funeral the following week.
The Countess’s new will, which determined what would happen to her enormous fortune and was drafted with the help of Farrer & Co, the Queen’s solicitors, was confirmed in published probate records.
Each of Elizabeth’s grandchildren received £25,000, each of her great-grandchildren received £10,000, and Alistair’s current wife, Gillian, as well as his first wife, Eileen, each received £5,000 in her will.
Trusts associated with the castle have received the majority of the bequest.
Farrer said that neither it nor a representative at the 189-room castle, which the Countess and Alistair opened to the public after restoring to its former splendour after years of institutional usage as a boys’ boarding school, could comment.
When Elizabeth’s uncle, the 5th Duke of Sutherland, passed away without having children in 1963, she had inherited the castle.
The Countess, who was also the Chief of Clan Sutherland, was orphaned at the age of eleven and went on to excel as a linguist during World War II, a skilled laboratory technician, and a Land Girl.
The furthest north among Scotland’s great homes is Dunrobin Castle.
According to a spokeswoman, the family has not yet commented.
According to a Police Scotland spokeswoman, soon after 11.20 p.m. on Saturday, September 4, “we were made aware of concern for a 40-year-old male near Thurso Castle.”
Emergency services were called, but the guy was declared dead there and then.
His death is being investigated to determine the entire facts, and it is being considered as unexplained.