Seely, of Rachel Douglas-Home, 27th Baroness Dacre a descendant of Charles II of England, who married William Douglas-Home younger brother of the Prime Minister and 14th Earl Sir Alec Douglas-Home. He is the great-great grandfather of George William Beaumont Howard, the current and 13th Earl of Carlisle whose principal family seat was Castle Howard. His son Lt-Col Frank Evelyn Seely married Leila Eliza Russell, great-granddaughter of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford and granddaughter of Lord Charles James Fox Russell whose half brother was Prime Minister John Russell, 1st Earl Russell. Their son Major Frank James Wriothesley Seely (1901–1956), married (1925) Vera Lilian Margaret Birkin (1903–1970), a granddaughter of Sir Thomas Isaac Birkin, 1st Bt. (1831–1922), whose great granddaughter is Jane Birkin (b. 1946), actress, partner of Serge Gainsbourg in the 1970s and namesake of the Hermès Birkin bag. The Michael Seely Memorial Stakes held at York was named in honour of their eldest son, the racing correspondent. He is also the great-great-grandfather of Bob Seely, the current Member of Parliament for the Isle of Wight. Seely is a third great-grandfather, via his youngest son, John Edward Bernard Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone, of theatre director Sophie Hunter who married actor Benedict Cumberbatch on 14 February 2015, at the 12th century St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, Mottistone on the Isle of Wight followed by a reception at Mottistone Manor. Wealth at death When he died in 1915 he left estate of £1,052,070 (equivalent to £641 million (in 2014), or £75 million (in 2015), obtained by multiplying £1,052,070.00 by the percentage increase in the RPI since 1915), as measured by share of UK GDP, UK CPI), which was according to The Times, the second largest estate that year (by comparison the estate of Nathan Mayer Rothschild, 1st Baron Rothschild was the largest valued at £2,500,000) and made him one of the wealthiest men in Britain. External links and sources Burke's Peerage and Baronetage 107th Edition Volume III *Seely Baronets Seely family crest The Great Houses of Nottinghamshire, Sherwood Lodge (1881) Seely estates listed at UK National Registry of Archives University of London and History of Parliament Trust & Link to St Paul's Church built by Sir Charles Seely Bt in 1896 and monument to his wife Emily Seely designed by Sir Thomas Brock. Art collection included Cicero's Villa by J. M. W. Turner, see: and paintings of Venice by Myles Birket