THE Duke of Atholl, one of Scotland's biggest land owners, has given his ancestral home and much of his land to a charitable trust.

The 64-year-old duke, one of Britain's richest men, has created the Blair Charitable Trust to run Blair Castle, near Pitlochry, and 70,000 acres of land around the Perthshire town of Blair Atholl.

Plans for the trust had been written into the duke's will for some time but have been brought forward.

It is believed the land and Blair Castle were passed into the ownership of the trust late last year. The duke, who is recovering in hospital from a stroke, rents an apartment in Blair Castle and has retained just a few thousand acres of the estate in his own name.

The move effectively disinherits a South African businessman who was next in line for the title.

Mr John Murray, a land surveyor from the Transvaal and a distant cousin of the 10th duke, will still inherit the title but will not receive the thirteenth-century castle and Atholl estates. It is understood the duke was not happy with Mr Murray's attitude towards Blair Castle, accusing the South African of viewing it as a ``commercial proposition and not a home''.

The title of Duke of Atholl and the lands are separate as a result of an agreement in the 1930s which saved the eighth duke from bankruptcy.

Over the last year, the bachelor duke has had to fight off strong criticism as he hit the headlines in a series of controversies.

He was criticised by Scots MPs after it was revealed he had applied for a #400,000 Forestry Commission grant to plant new trees. He was called a ``chancer' for calling in the Territorial Army to mend a riverbank, and was accused of cashing in on the Gamekeeper television programme when he began charging #5 for the right to use a potholed road on his estate as access to the Atholl hills.

Mr Andrew Gordon, factor of the Atholl Estates, was not available for comment yesterday and staff at Blair Castle refused to discuss the charitable trust.

The duke was praised yesterday by one of his sternest critics, SNP MP for Perth and Kinross, Ms Roseanna Cunningham.

She said: ``If it means that the ownership and control of the estate is retained within Scotland and it is run with the public good in mind, then it is to be welcomed.''