Click the image to view the photo at the Mail Online

 The BBC reports that the question of the legality of sealing of royal wills, which has been raised several times over recent years, is being considered by a panel of judges.  The privilege is unique to the royals — normally British wills are a matter of public record.

The practice of sealing the wills was brought to public attention by Robert Brown (pictured at right), a man who claims that he is the secret love-child of HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon and Group Captain Peter Townsend.  He has been attempting for several years to have the wills of both Princess Margaret and HM The Queen Mother unsealed because he believes they may contain evidence that he is the late princess’s son.

Royal wills have been sealed since the early twentieth century, and it was indeed first done to conceal a family secret.  In 1911, HM Queen Mary asked the courts to seal the will of her brother, Prince Francis of Teck, to keep confidential the fact that he had left the Cambridge emeralds (pictured at left) to Lady Kilmorey, his mistress.  She later quietly purchased the emeralds back for several times their value so that she could wear her family’s jewels to her coronation, and they have since been incorporated in many pieces of royal jewelry.

Click the image to view the photo at The Royal Collection

All royal wills since then have been sealed, a privilege that historian Hugo Vickers tells the BBC has been afforded to “all sorts of obscure people.”  The only exception to the rule has been the will of Diana, Princess of Wales, which was revealed after her death in 1997.

Vickers believes that “while the covenant was introduced to cover-up impropriety, it [is] wrong to assume the wills of more recent royals might reveal similarly lurid details,” adding, “The Royal Family have so little privacy as it is, I don’t think we should be able to see the details.”

But if the panel decides that it is unlawful to allow royals to have their wills sealed, there may still be a way for the royals to keep their last wishes private in the future.  Vickers explains that “the Royal Family might opt, like a number of famous people, to leave a letter for their executors, which does not have to be published.”

If the royal wills are unsealed, most believe that they will provide no evidence that Mr. Brown is the secret child of a princess.   Even so, we will have to wait for the panel’s verdict, scheduled for late 2010, to see if we do become privy to any real secrets lurking in royal estate papers.

To read more from the BBC on the topic, visit this page.  For more on the British royal family, please visit this forum.

Ella Kay British Royals Jewellery, Legal Matters, Princess Margaret, Queen Mary, Robert Brown

Click the image to see the photo at the BBC website

 On 6th May 1960, Princess Margaret married Anthony Armstrong-Jones in Westminster Abbey. It was the first-ever televised royal wedding with estimates of over 300 million people watching the event worldwide. The Princess chose one of her favourite designers, Norman Hartnell, to design her wedding dress. Hartnell was also a favourite of the Queen and the Queen Mother and had been responsible for the Coronation dresses and Princess Elizabeth’s wedding dress. However his creation for Margaret in 1960 was remarkably different from his other designs. At Princess Margaret’s request, the design was kept simple with no lace or sequins. image , image The dress of white silk organza had a striking high neckline and tight-fitted bodice. image Unlike previous wedding dresses there was no separate court train; instead the skirt itself formed a short train. image The simple veil was made by Claude St Cyr of Paris and the only detail was the piping on the trim to match the dress. image

The veil was held in place with the stunning Poltimore tiara which had been purchased for Princess Margaret at auction prior to her wedding for over £5000. For the wedding day Margaret’s hairdresser styled her hair with a hairpiece to add height. The Poltimore tiara was made by Garrard in 1870 for Lady Poltimore. It could be transformed into a fringe necklace and eleven brooches. image The Princess was seen wearing the tiara in the form of the necklace prior to her wedding and continued to wear the piece in its various forms on many state occasions. The tiara was sold in 2006 at an auction in Christie’s along with many other pieces from her jewellery collection. It sold to a private collector for about £1 million. On her wedding day, Margaret also wore Queen Mary’s diamond riviere which she had inherited after her grandmother’s death in 1953. It became one of her signature pieces and was sold for nealy £1 million at the 2006 auction. image , image

Hartnell also designed the dresses for the eight bridesmaids, including Princess Anne. The dresses were specifically made to replicate Margaret’s first evening dress which had been a favourite of her late father, King George VI. They were frilly with insets of broderie anglaise and trimmed with blue ribbon. image , image

More infomation and pictures of the wedding can be found in this thread. Second photo is from the Royal Forums avatar collection.

PrincessofEurope British Royals Fashion, Princess Margaret, Tiaras, Wedding