The Duchess of Cornwall's aristocratic cousin allegedly claimed housing benefit under Brad Pitt's Fight Club character's name, Tyler Durden.

Dru Edmonstone, whose family still own the 6,000-acre Stirling estate they were given by Scottish King Robert III in 1435, is accused of fraudulently obtaining more than £81,000 from the state - Stirling Council, and the Royal Burgh of Kensington and Chelsea.

The 46-year-old, whose great-grandmother is Edward Alice Keppel is also the great-grandmother of Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, is also accused of pocketing money taken from walkers at a pop-up cafe in a caravan on the West Highland Way while posing as a doctor, a ranger, and a mountain rescuer, and claiming to be selling refreshments for charity.

The Duchess of Cornwall's aristocratic cousin allegedly claimed housing benefit. Pictured: Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall

It is alleged that Edmonstone made false claims for handouts including income support, tax credit, carers' allowance, and disability living allowance.

He posed as he did so as his sister, his wife, and his own carer, and pretending that he was looking after a 12-year-old disabled child, who was neither living with him nor, in fact, was disabled.

The Stirlingshire aristocrat, whose family own the historic Duntreath Castle Estate, near Blanefield, is also said to have falsely claimed housing benefit for renting a mews cottage in Kensingston as part of the £81,367 alleged fraud.

As part of the same fraud, which is said to have been committed between January 2014 and April the following year, it is also said that he falsely claimed 'access to work' grants alleging that he needed the assistance of a carer to help him operate a business he claimed to be running - a cafe in a caravan on the West Highland Way.

A second charge alleges that he pretended to be Tyler Durden and living alone at Ardoch House, in Blanefield, and that on various occasions between July 20, 2016 and October 25 the same year he completed an application form for housing benefit in Tyler Duden's name, produced documentation, a driving licence, and a bank card in the name of Tyler Durden, and attempted to induce employees of Stirling Council to authorise the payment of housing benefit by fraud.

Tyler Durden is the alter-ego of The Narrator in the 1999 Fight Club film. Played by Pitt, Durden was named in 2008 as the greatest movie character of all time.

A third charge alleges that between January 2016 and April 2017, Edmonstone formed a fraudulent scheme and obtained an unknown amount of money by fraud from the public by obtaining a caravan and setting it up as a cafe on the West Highland Way near Ardoch House and variously pretending to walkers that he was a doctor, a member of the mountain rescue service, a 'West Highland Way Ranger', or member of an organisation responsible for the upkeep of the long distance path, that he was authorised to collect money for such organisations for refreshments, or that payment was required to walk the West Highland Way.

At a preliminary hearing at Stirling Sheriff Court today, Edmonstone, of Ardoch House, Blanefield, denied all the charges, which are on indictment - the more serious type of prosecution in the sheriff courts.

The 46-year-old's great-aunt is Edward Alice Keppel is also the great-grandmother of Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall

Defence agent Ken Dalling said Edmonstone's own solicitor, John Mulholland, was stuck by snow in Cumbernauld.

Mr Dalling asked for the preliminary hearing to be adjourned for a week 'in anticipation of resolution'.

Prosecutor Alex Piper said: 'There have been discussions with Mr Mulholland regarding resolution - we are nearly there.'

Sheriff Wyllie Robertson adjourned the hearing until January 24th, and continued Edmonstone's bail.

Duntreath Castle, a famous shooting estate, is the ancestral home, in unbroken succession, of the Edmonstone family, who were granted the lands by Robert III as a wedding gift for his grand-daughter.

Sir Archibald's grandmother Alice Keppel was Edward VII's mistress and great-grandmother of Prince Charles's second wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall

Edmonstone's father, Sir Archibald Edmonstone, 83, the 7th baronet of Duntreath, inherited the castle at the age of 22 and it has become a popular setting for weddings, seminars, private parties and corporate events.

Sir Archibald's grandmother Alice Keppel was Edward VII's mistress and great-grandmother of Prince Charles's second wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.

The Edmonstone Baronetcy was a title created on May 20, 1774 for Archibald Edmonstone, who had been a Tory MP for Dunbartonshire and Ayr Burghs.

The estate of Duntreath lies on both sides of the Blane Valley some 12 miles north of the Glasgow.