‘I’m a living relative of Jane Austen – taking her off the £10 note is a real shame’

Carole Jane Knight questioned plans to take famous faces off of banknotes (Picture: Getty / Caroline Jane Knight)

One of Jane Austen’s closest living relatives has said it is ‘peculiar’ and ‘extraordinary’ that the novelist is being dropped from the £10 note during the government’s National Year of Reading campaign.

Caroline Jane Knight, the fifth great niece of Austen, called it a ‘real shame’ that the iconic author will be ditched from the currency after only nine years.

She...