A man who claims he may be the illegitimate son of the late Princess Margaret has won permission to pursue his battle to see the contents of the Queen’s sister’s will and that of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

The Court of Appeal ruled today that although Robert Brown, 52, a Jersey accountant, had no private right to unseal the wills, it was arguable that there was a “general public interest” in whether the wills should be unsealed.

Mr Brown believes he could be the love child of Margaret, who died in 2002 aged 71, and Group Captain Peter Townsend - the former RAF pilot who had an ill-fated romance with the Princess - making him 12th in line to the throne.

In July, Sir Mark Potter, President of the High Court Family Division, struck out his claim as vexatious and an abuse of process, saying it was made “solely for the purpose of seeking to establish an imaginary and baseless claim”.

Frank Hinks, QC, for the executors of both estates, had argued that Mr Brown had produced no evidence of value.

Mr Brown, having failed to establish any private right to unseal the wills, claimed a public right, although Mr Hinks said he had no legal status to do so.

Today, Lord Justice Thorpe, Lord Justice Dyson and Lord Justice Holman, in the Court of Appeal, gave permission for an appeal, which is due to last a day, to proceed at a future date.

Lord Justice Dyson said the President was clearly right to conclude that Mr Brown had no private right and noted that his counsel, Geoffrey Robertson QC, did not seek to support his claim to be Princess Margaret’s child which was “manifestly unfounded”.

But, he added, it was at least arguable that he had standing to assert a general public interest in whether it was right for the wills to be sealed.

Afterwards, Mr Brown said the ruling exceeded his expectations. His solicitor, Amber Melville-Brown, said: “We are absolutely delighted with such an emphatic ruling. A door we thought had been shut in our faces has been opened.”

Mr Brown was born on January 5, 1955 in Nairobi, Kenya, although his birth was not registered until February 2 and the birth certificate gives the later date of June 4, 1955.

His birth mother is listed as Cynthia Joan Brown (nee Lyle), now deceased, a society model who worked for Hardy Amies, the Queen’s former dresser. His father, Douglas Richard Brown, was posted to Kenya with the Army during the Second World War.

One theory being used to support his unprecedented claim to royal blood was that, to avoid public scandal, the couple agreed to adopt an illegitimate baby born to Princess Margaret, who is said to have left £7.6 million to her family.

But sceptics argued it would be highly unlikely that a high-profile public figure like the Princess could ever keep a pregnancy hidden, and referred to photographs of her wearing tight-fitting dresses around the time of the birth.

Since 1911, the wills of senior members of the Royal Family have been officially sealed and not open to public inspection.

At an earlier hearing, Mr Robertson said his client was “a perfectly rational man who seeks peace of mind”.

He genuinely believed there might be indications in the wills that he was a beneficiary of certain bequests.

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