But a story hitting the headlines this week has confirmed that the rules by which the upper classes live really are bonkers.
Three aristocratic sisters have been told they cannot inherit their late father’s earldom - because they are not male.
Instead, the title has gone to a distant relative who never even met their father while he was alive.
Ladies Sarah, Fiona and Sophie Carnegie, who are from one of the oldest aristocratic families in Britain, lost their father to cancer in 2010 and have been trying to sort out his estate ever since.
The Sunday Times reported today that the title of David Carnegie, the 14th Earl of Northesk, will be bestowed upon 72-year-old Patrick Carnegy, who is a cousin eight times removed from the late peer.
This is all because of a Latin document written in 1666 that legal bods have struggled to interpret.
However, the family don’t seem too unhappy to be losing the title because of its association with tragic events in their personal history.
The sisters’ aunt, Lady Fisher, explained: “I think we took the collective view that there were so many sadnesses attached to it and it had no benefits.
“There is no money or estate with the title — it is just an adornment. There isn't a stately home and there isn't much money.”
Even so, we can’t help but feel we would be pretty miffed if the same thing happened to us.