The daughter of the Duke of Rutland was asked to pay just half the normal minimum fine for speeding after telling magistrates, paying the full penalty could result in cashflow issues for her.
Discover our latest podcast
Eliza Manners, 24, paid £50 after being caught in March going at 47mph in a 40mph zone on the M4 in an Audi in Brentford, west London.
Bad Manners Girls
According to the Evening Standard, Manners, who runs her own interior design business, wrote to the Lavender Hill magistrates to attempt to avoid a heavy penalty.
In a question asking if paying a fine would pose financial difficulties, she reportedly wrote:
It would cause me cashflow issues.
The court then ordered her to pay a £50 fine and £84 in court costs and fees, as well as being given three penalty points.
Lady Manners, who is the youngest daughter of the 11th Duke of Rutland, reportedly lives in a £700,000 flat in Notting Hill. She and her two sisters, Alice and Violet, were nicknamed the ‘bad Manners girls’ when they used to be regulars on London’s social scene.
No Living Expenses
Her family home, Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, has featured in The Crown and The Da Vinci Code. Her company Eliza Manners London has on its website a brief story of her upbringing, in which the castle was described as:
one of the UK’s most famous and unspoilt Regency buildings. They say that children absorb their surroundings, and for Eliza, that is exactly the case.
Her circus-themed 18th birthday party featured live camels and was covered by Tatler magazine, which described it as 'a night of surprises'.
On Wednesday night, she was pictured wearing a £1,600 Balmain dress at Harry’s Bar in Mayfair. Her Instagram account also features pictures from a recent holiday to Italy.
She entered her guilty plea for the offence in April and was sentenced on 4 October without an open court hearing. She reportedly did not declare any living expenses.
Government guidelines say that the 'minimum penalty for speeding is a £100 fine' but magistrates are able to lower penalties in exceptional cases.
