Richard Neville, 11th Baron Braybrooke

Richard Ralph Neville is the son of George Neville (1943–2004) and Patricia B (née Quinn)[2]. Neville's father was a shipbroker. He is a paternal descendant of Richard Griffin, 2nd Baron Braybrooke. His great-great-great-grandfather was the 2nd Baron's younger son, George Neville-Grenville, who served as Dean of Windsor and Honorary Chaplain to the Queen. He is the great-great-great-great-grandson of George Grenville, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1763 until 1765.

In 2017, Neville succeeded in title to the Barony of Braybrooke on the death of his fourth cousin once removed, Robin Neville, 10th Baron Braybrooke, who had eight daughters but no sons. Due to a will trust created in 1941 on the death of Henry Neville, 7th Baron Braybrooke, Neville is not in remainder to the Audley End estates associated with the barony which passed as a life interest to Louise Newman, a female-line descendent of the 7th Baron. Ayesha Vardag's eponymous firm of solicitors, Vardags, commented on the perceived inequity of the succession quoting the Hon. Ms Amanda Murray, the eldest child and daughter of Robin Neville, 10th Baron Braybrooke:–

"It boils down to this: if I were a boy, I would be sitting pretty...in this day and age, with supposed equality, why am I not allowed to inherit my father’s estate?"

— Hon. Ms Amanda Murray, "Baron's daughter fails to inherit family estate", Vardags (15 June 2017)[10]

In the same article, Julian Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford likened the case to his widely popular, but ultimately comical, Downton Abbey, expressing solidarity towards Ms Murray's disinheritance in the £60 million,[11] 6,000 acre[10][5][6] Audley End estate[10][6][5]

"It seems rather hard on Amanda. She's lived and worked all her adult life."

— Julian Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, "Baron's daughter fails to inherit family estate", Vardags (15 June 2017)[10]

The future inheritance in title of the 11th Baron Braybrooke and the future disinheritance in both estate and title of the Hon. Ms Murray did not go unnoticed by the establishment, with commentators stating in 2013 that historic, and legal, male-line primogeniture may be a feminist issue.[12][13] Along with the Hon. Ms Murray, signatories of a letter to The Telegraph demanding gender equality in the inheritance of hereditary titles included[13] Viscountess Linley, Lord Beaverbrook, Baroness Grey-Thompson, Helena Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws and inexplicably Rufus Sewell whose experience of the inequity of primogeniture may be informed by his role as Count Adhemar in the 2001 blockbuster A Knight's Tale, starring the late Heath Ledger.

Neville stood for election to the House of Lords as a crossbench candidate[14] in the October 2022 by-elections but did not receive any votes.[15] Neville gave his occupation as marketing director, and his candidature statement (which is customarily terse and pithy) was as follows:–

I am the marketing director of an established British luxury brand and have spent the last twenty years working in the internet and technology sector from small start-ups to multinational companies. With my experience, I would be able to contribute on a wide range of current issues in this field which I feel would complement the make-up of the House. I am a political independent and would regularly attend the House.

— Lord Braybrooke, "Crossbench hereditary peers' by-election", House of Lords (30 September 2022)[14]

Neville has served as hereditary visitor of Magdalene College, Cambridge since 5 June 2017.[9] Unlike his predecessor in visitation and in contrast to prior Braybrookes who have historically had strong links to the college—most notably Latimer Neville, 6th Baron Braybrooke, the college's longest-serving master—Neville did not have any prior association with Magdalene, nor the University of Cambridge prior to the commencement of his hereditary visitation. The visitation is currently prescribed in statute to be held ex officio by the Barony of Braybrooke, and is therefore a hereditary role.[9] Neville is omitted from the college directory.[16] Magdalene, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and Jesus College, Oxford are the only three Oxbridge colleges that continue to prescribe by statute visitations held by hereditary peers. As visitor, Neville has the right to appoint the master of the college, a right that has never been challenged.[17]

To the presumed delight of Magdalene undergraduates who have a known penchant for imbibing as the privilege of a narrow elite[18] and whose drinking society the Wyverns is considered to be the "undisputed king of drinking societies",[19] Neville, the hereditary visitor and therefore most senior member of their college, is a former director of Bring a Bottle alcohol price comparison website.[6][5][7][1] In 2014, Bring a Bottle was featured in The Telegraph offering "booze bargins"[20] and strategies for how to buy alcohol at the lowest price, for example offering the most helpful information, especially for decadant champagne-quaffing yet simultaneously price-discerning undergraduates, that "Lanson Black Label Champagne is at its cheapest in the third week of December".[20]

Neville married Selina Anne Kelway-Bamber on 3 September 2016[2] with whom he has a son and two daughters: Jemima Neville, Edward Alfred Neville (born 1 December 2015) and Hon. Matilda Grace Neville (born 13 August 2019)[3][4]. As the Barony of Braybrooke is inherited by heirs male and Edward Alfred Neville was born out of wedlock, none of Neville's issue are heirs in title. The heir to the barony is John Neville (born 1944), a descendant of the 2nd Baron.