If Olivia’s mother was British she’d have little problem gaining citizenship.
Except when there is an agreement which makes such a petition unnecessary, such as the EU. It doesn’t apply in this case but, having been on the receiving end of “the (American) lawyer said that getting a work permit for a Spaniard in Italy would be very difficult”, I like to remind people that such a permit would in fact be impossible to obtain.
Update: Olivia just met the local Earl (80-ish), and HE called her “Lady Rosemere,” so maybe the author deliberately had the townspeople (and lawyer) address her incorrectly to show that they’re a bunch of rubes, klutzes, and dumbasses. Whatever. I don’t care if the characters are dumb, but I want the author to be smart, ya know?
But the question is: Does owning a 200,000 pounds/yr estate and an title provide sufficient reason (legally and in practice) for the government to approve the petition?
Automatically? I doubt that any country’s law would compel its government to grant immigration status solely on that basis, but you’d have to actually refer to the immigration law applicable in that country. Immigration law is notoriously complex in most countries (obviously as Nava points out the EU makes it easy within the union).
And then a couple of pages later, he calls her “Lady Shaw.” So I dunno.