The regulator found that the former trustees, William Bortrick and Mark Ayre, were responsible for misconduct and mismanagement of the foundation. They were each disqualified from acting as trustees for 12 years.

As part of its inquiry, the Commission also recovered £113,000 of misapplied charitable funds from the trustees.

The charity was registered in 2014 with the aim to promote education in genealogy and personal heritage, and was struck off the charity register in August 2023 as it ceased to operate.

It was set up as the charitable foundation of Burke’s Peerage, the directory of the rich and famous nobility and landed gentry.

But there was no clear differentiation between the charity and the company which publishes Burke’s Peerage, with both Bortrick and Ayre the sole directors of the publishing business.