An English aristocrat searching for an heir for his £7.5 million mansion may have found one – a US rock star.

Sir Benjamin Slade has spent the past 18 months scouring the world for a relation prepared to take on Maunsel House in Somerset.

And Isaac Slade, 24, lead singer with Denver-based Christian rockers The Fray, has turned out to be one of his closest living relatives, reports The Times.

Sir Benjamin said: “If Isaac moves in he and his band can have huge concerts in the grounds. It would be fantastic and pay all the rotten bills.”

The singer and his wife, Anna, 23, and the band’s guitarist, David Welsh, and his wife, Janell, are staying in the Grade II-listed house for two days as guests of Sir Benjamin.

His search for an heir was turned into a TV programme, I’m Really a Royal, which led to 15,000 applications.

Sir Benjamin went to see The Fray in concert in London and the two are now firm friends as well as relatives.

Slade, a self-confessed Anglophile, said that he was overwhelmed by the sense of history during his visit to the 13th century family seat.

Unlike most of the hopefuls who answered Sir Benjamin’s appeal for an heir, he could probably afford the upkeep.

The title track from The Fray’s debut album, How to Save a Life, sold more than five million copies in the US and reached number four in the UK. It is also the biggest selling album on iTunes.

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