A Scottish aristocrat has died after falling from cliffs in what has been described as a "tragic accident".
The body of Alexander Sutherland - Lord Strathnaver - was found at the bottom of 30ft cliffs at Thurso East, near the ruined 19th century Thurso Castle in Caithness.
Thurso Lifeboat was launched at 11.30pm on Saturday after reports of a person the rocks. "The lifeboat quickly made its way to the area and casualty care trained crew members went ashore in the inflatable Y boat.
"They located the casualty and gave CPR and assisted Scottish Ambulance Service and local coastguard deal with the situation until Police Scotland took control," said a spokesperson for the lifeboat.
A friend said that Lord Strathnaver, 41, had been attending the Tunes in the Dunes music festival at Dunnet - mainland Britain's most northerly point - at the weekend.
A keen surfer, he also had a house a few miles away at Thurso East which is a top UK surfing location. "He was walking with a friend and she was ahead of him. The next she knew he had gone over the cliffs.
"It was a tragic accident," said the friend, who asked not to be named. She climbed down to him and gave him CPR. Neither had a mobile phone. She had to climb back up and find a phone and call for help.
"Sadly Al could not be saved. He was such a lovely chap - a really happy go lucky person. He had no airs. I did not know him as Lord Strathnaver - just as Al.
"He was a keen surfer - he used to surf every day and that is why he had a house at Thurso East. He also had a little surf shop. It appears he had been at the music festival, had left it and may have been heading back. It is such a tragic loss."
His grandmother, the Elizabeth, 24th Countess of Sutherland, died in 2019 aged 98. The countess's death meant her eldest son Alistair became the Earl of Sutherland and his son Alexander, took the title of Lord Strathnaver.
Her will revealed that one of her sons would apparently inherit substantially less than his twin brother. Due to being born just a few minutes later, Martin Janson saw his twin brother Alistair become the 25th Earl of Sutherland and inherit the 120,000 acres of Dunrobin Castle in Sutherland.
And it was revealed that he has been left just £250,000 in the £18million will that his mother, Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland, wrote three days before she died. By contrast, his sister, Lady Annabel Bainton, was bequeathed £3.5 million.
Published probate documents confirm that the Countess made a new will, determining the fate of her vast fortune, drawn up with the assistance of Farrer & Co, the Queen's solicitors.
Elizabeth left £25,000 to each of her grandchildren, £10,000 to each of her great-grandchildren, and £5,000 both to Alistair's current wife, Gillian, and to his first wife, Eileen.
The bulk of the will has been left to trusts connected to the castle. Farrer explained that it could comment, nor could a spokesman at the 189 room castle, which the Countess and Alistair restored to its former glory after years of institutional use as a boys' boarding school and opened it to the public.
Elizabeth had inherited the castle when her uncle, the 5th Duke of Sutherland, died childless in 1963. The Countess, who was also Chief of Clan Sutherland, was orphaned at the age of ten, before becoming, in quick succession, a Land Girl during World War II, a proficient linguist and an accomplished laboratory technician.
An un-named source said that neither Alistair nor Martin will have been taken aback by their mother's last gasp will - and wills only tell part of the story. "They are a very well advised family," he is reported as saying.
"All sorts of other trusts and so forth - dating back many years - will apply. And I'm sure that lots will have been handed over during her lifetime."
The first duke was the countess's most famous ancestor, a fabulously wealthy man who, as heir to the third Duke of Bridgewater, had inherited coal mines and canal interests around Manchester and Liverpool, along with the Bridgewater collection of paintings, including works by Titian, Raphael and Rembrandt.
In Scotland he was reviled for his association with the Highland Clearances and his 100ft statue on Ben Bhraggie has been the subject of controversy with many appeals for its demolition.
It is not the first time tragedy has struck the family. Lord Strathnaver's cousin - the great-nephew of the shamed war minister John Profumo - took his own life 18 months after returning to Britain from fighting Islamic State in Syria, his family said.
Jamie Janson, a former aid worker, was arrested in Folkestone, Kent, in May 2018 as he arrived back on a coach from France. Initially detained under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act, he was eventually released on bail while under investigation.
He allegedly joined the Kurdish People's Protection Unit (YPG) to help fight Isis in 2017. It is understood that he was never charged with an offence. He was living in London at the time of his death in 2019.
His father, Martin said then: "My son Jamie took his own life at the age of 44. As a family we are all devastated and do not want to talk about the circumstances. It is tragic and something we are all trying to deal with."
Dunrobin Castle is the most northerly of Scotland's great houses. Last year the Earl sold off hundreds of family treasures. It was described as "a fascinating time capsule of domestic operations on a Downton Abbey scale".
The Dunrobin Attic Sale, held at Bonham's Scottish saleroom in Edinburgh, had more than 450 lots, including paintings, portraits and historic photographs, picture frames, marble sculptures, crested dinner services, and an array of treasures from the castle's kitchen and cellar.
A spokesperson for Dunrobin said the family had no comment at this stage.
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