William and Harry's Inheritance

[Sereta]

I'm surprised that Diana's will was released to the public. I thought the royal family didn't publicize private wills.

[Iluvbertie]

Originally Posted by Sereta

They have protection officers no matter where they go. The public criticizes the RF no matter what, but maybe we're off-topic.

I'm surprised that Diana's will was released to the public. I thought the royal family didn't publicize private wills.

Diana was a different category when she died and her will and other matters were also different.

Some things simply didn't apply to her after her divorce.

She was regarded as a member of the RF at times due to being William's mother but not at other times or for other purposes as she was divorced from Charles.

[Zonk]

Marsel you are a bucket of information!

What are your sources for the money from Lady Fermoy and the Earl of Spencer. And when you say Lord Spencer, who are you referring to? Are you talking about Dianas Spencer grandfather?

I would also imagine that Frances Shand Kydd had some money as well.

In regards to the publication of Diana's will, does it matter that she was or not a member of the Royal Family? Are all British wills available to the public? Not sure if that is the case in the States.

[Marsel]

Thank you, Zonk.

As a teenager, Diana received an inheritance from her great-grandmother, Frances Ellen Work, Baroness Fermoy (not Lady Fermoy - I have corrected the wrong title in my post: Frances Work was Diana's American heiress great-grandmother): the inheritance included £100,000 in cash (part of which was used to buy her a flat in London upon her 18th birthday) and a trust fund, which was presumably worth about than £2-3 million at the time of Diana death, although its worth has probably increased over the last 12 years
Note: at the time Diana received the inheritance, the fund was of course worth considerably less - as one of Frances Work's youngest female great-grandchildren, Diana got one of the smallest shares, however Diana didn't really spend much of the money before her engagement and certainly very little after it.

John Spencer had set trust funds for all his grandchildren (born at the time of his death), with the (possible) exception of Prince William.

I'm not sure about Frances Shand Kydd's money or what she chose to do with them.


My sources can probably be described as ‘general knowledge’ about the issue in question. I am 100% certain of the information concerning Harry's trust fund set by Earl Spencer, and almost certain concerning the money Frances Work left to Diana. Nevertheless, I'll find credible sources to back the claims.

In regards to the publication of Diana's will, does it matter that she was or not a member of the Royal Family? Are all British wills available to the public? Not sure if that is the case in the States.

All British wills are available to public. The only exceptions are the wills of members of the Royal Family whose wills are private (although that can change soon). Royal wills have been sealed since Queen Mary (of Teck) requested the courts not to disclose the contents of her brother’s will, who had left the family’s Cambridge emeralds to his mistress, Lady Kilmorey (Mary later purchased the emeralds from Lady Kilmorey many times the price of their actual value).
As Diana was no longer a de facto member of the Royal Family after her divorce, her will was to be made public.
I suppose if the Royal Family really wanted to keep the will private, they could have achieved it, however there didn't seem to be any need for it.

[cd255]

[QUOTE=Marsel;990130]All British wills are available to public. The only exceptions are the wills of members of the Royal Family whose wills are private (although that can change soon). [QUOTE]

I've also heard that they might start making Royal wills available to the public. It'll be interesting to see if they do.