Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921-2021)

[angieuk]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...t-protect-dignity-Queen-High-Court-rules.html

To protect the Queen and members of her family.
The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret's Wills were all SEALED; although I believe Diana, Princess of Wales, Will was open for public inspection.

 

[Alison H]

Inheritance tax is paid out of the residue of the estate. So, if he's left gifts to staff members, then they'll get the full amount, and the tax will be paid out of whatever goes to the person who gets the residue.


You can leave a certain amount free of tax, and then tax is paid on the rest. However, any amount left to a spouse is free of tax - but, if you're an elderly couple, then you have to weigh up the possibilities ... if your spouse is not likely to survive you by too many years, it may well work out better to put money into trust for younger relatives.

 

[Claire]

If the will is contested - can it became public?

 

[AC21091968]

Not surprised by the High Court decision that The Duke of Edinburgh's will remains private for the next 90 years. I personally don't see the point of making his will public if both The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret's will were not completely shown.

I later found out Buckingham Palace did reveal some details on The Queen Mother's will according to the Official Royal Family website. I think this is only a summary/snippet of her will.

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother has bequeathed her entire estate (which mainly comprises the contents of her houses) to The Queen.

In her will, she asked The Queen to make certain bequests to members of her staff, and these bequests will be subject to Inheritance Tax in the normal way.

Will of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
https://www.royal.uk/will-queen-elizabeth-queen-mother

 

[muriel]

I must admit that I really was under the impression that the will was simply the Queen gets everything. Taxes and all. I understand that gifts were given to the DOE staff.

And that may well be the case. It is just that the will's of the royal family are sealed, and not available for the public to see.

 

[Tatiana Maria]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...t-protect-dignity-Queen-High-Court-rules.html

To protect the Queen and members of her family.
The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret's Wills were all SEALED; although I believe Diana, Princess of Wales, Will was open for public inspection.

Thanks! Here is the complete judgment.

https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Fam/2021/77.html

Interesting that as the judge explains, requests to seal royal wills beginning in 1910 have invariably been granted by judges but none of the previous judges publicly documented their reasons for granting the royal family's requests.

 

[Tirilschatz]

I have a question which might be very stupid and if so I apologize.

Sealed means... closed after those who are IN the will have been informed?
Or does sealed mean: nobody gets informed? Because if so, I don't get it at all. because who ever is in it will probably be dead in 90 years.

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

It is interesting to see how different the Anglosaxon countries handle Wills, compared to the neighbours at the other side of the Channel.

Over there anyone can question the central notarial registration via mail with a copy of the testator’s death certificate. One shall only obtain the name of the notarial office which holds the Will and its contact details as information.

In most countries the Notary is the only one who is authorized to tell a person whether or not he/she is a legatee of the deceased. No any other details are given to persons who are no legatees.

 

[Curryong]

I would suggest that virtually no other European country has the equivalent of the voracious British tabloid media, however. If all royal wills were open to public scrutiny then those publications would be free to literally pore over every non royal person named in the will as a legatee, dirt may well be dragged up for readers’ consumption and public debate would be endless IMO.

It is a matter of historical note that the first such will was sealed in 1910 in order that the public should not know that Queen Mary’s brother, Prince Franz (Frank) of Teck, left their mother’s precious jewellery to his mistress in his will. Whatever other secrets these wills have held over the years they certainly haven’t been considered matters of public interest.

 

[MARG]

Quite true. While the Will was sealed, Queen Mary quietly negotiated with Lady Kilmorey to purchase her mother's jewellery, the Cambridge Emeralds, back.

As to sealing the will, it was a sensible thing to do as the media today knows no bounds of decency and would happily print anything "leaked" for those interested to salivate over.

A simple example was The Prince of Wales (Edward) response to being omitted from his father, the King's, will. He verbally cut up rough at not being named in his father's will, yet he had the entire Duchy of Cornwall until he became King with Duchy of Lancaster. And yet he felt hard done by. Imagine that the Will itself was made public.

There are reasons that royals Wills say what they say . . . for example perhaps Prince Philip left his carriages and horses to Lady Louise. People would automatically translate that into actual money and that amount may well be more or less than other grandchildren. It is none of our business who gets what just as we know that the Queen will in all likelihood leave everything to her heir in a direct Sovereign to Sovereign transfer.

 

[Hallo girl]

In my mind, I expected Lady Louise to be among the family reminiscing about Philip. Mostly in the segments that deal with the aftermath of his death. I would imagine Louise would talk about her bond with Philip with carriage driving. She honored him the day of his death by exercising his horses. She also is the one that inherited his horses and carriage.

I don't see the BBC having anything but the deepest respect for Philip and his family while filming this show. Not everything has a dark horse running amok in it.

From what I am reading in the weekend newspapers Lady Louise does take part in the programme.

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

By accident a boulevard magazine obtained a copy of a codicil to the testament of the late Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. Not the actual testament itself.

That codicil was a long list with distributions to certain people. For an example the Duke of Edinburgh was gifted cassettes with gentlemens' jewelry accessoires like antique cufflinks & shirt studs, boutonnières and waistcoat horloges in precious materials.

It was amusing to read that maybe the Duke has worn jewelry which was owned by a "collegue Consort" of his generation but indeed, for the rest on itself it is none of our business.

 

[Tatiana Maria]

I also find it interesting that, pending a potential appeal, the judgment retroactively applies the 90-year waiting period to previous royal wills which were sealed indefinitely. I hope that signifies that not long in the future, we may see researchers applying to unseal royal wills executed before 1931.

I have a question which might be very stupid and if so I apologize.

Sealed means... closed after those who are IN the will have been informed?
Or does sealed mean: nobody gets informed? Because if so, I don't get it at all. because who ever is in it will probably be dead in 90 years.

I have not looked up the English law, but the judgment mentions that individuals who demonstrate a personal interest in the will, such as being a potential legatee, can apply to view the will even within the period of 90 years.

I would suggest that virtually no other European country has the equivalent of the voracious British tabloid media, however. If all royal wills were open to public scrutiny then those publications would be free to literally pore over every non royal person named in the will as a legatee, dirt may well be dragged up for readers’ consumption and public debate would be endless IMO.

However, Duc_et_Pair was making the point that in the countries with which he is familiar, most testaments are sealed whether the testator is royal, a celebrity, or an ordinary citizen, whereas in England an open will is the default position.

 

[yukari]

In my mind, I expected Lady Louise to be among the family reminiscing about Philip. Mostly in the segments that deal with the aftermath of his death. I would imagine Louise would talk about her bond with Philip with carriage driving. She honored him the day of his death by exercising his horses. She also is the one that inherited his horses and carriage.

I don't see the BBC having anything but the deepest respect for Philip and his family while filming this show. Not everything has a dark horse running amok in it.

And she did. Sophie as well.
I think this is the first time I hear Louise's voice.

Edit:
It's up on YouTube!!!
Better watch now before they take it down.

 

[suztav]

What a wonderful tribute. So nice to hear from all his adult grandchildren— they loved and admired their Grandpa.

Very nice that Louise was included — she has a wonderful voice. He had a special and unique bond with Louise through carriage driving.

Well done!

 

[Erin9]

It sounds like a wonderful tribute to him.

 

[Marengo]

That was a lovely tribute indeed. Not only by his descendants but also by prince Bernhard of Baden and by the archivist who guides the viewer through his office. And it is not often that we see vice admiral Laurence participating in royal documentaries, but he did participate in this one and talked about Dartmouth, which he attended himself too. Thank you for posting the link so we are able to see the complete version.

 

[Claire]

Thank you - it was a good show. Thank you for sharing the link. I do wish it had been longer, but it couldnt have been easy combining the various people's extracts into 58 min.

 

[muriel]

That was a lovely tribute indeed. Not only by his descendants but also by prince Bernhard of Baden and by the archivist who guides the viewer through his office. And it is not often that we see vice admiral Laurence participating in royal documentaries, but he did participate in this one and talked about Dartmouth, which he attended himself too. Thank you for posting the link so we are able to see the complete version.

Very well said. I thought the documentary laid out a very sensitive and personal insight into the life of Prince Philip.

 

[AC21091968]

It was a great documentary paying tribute and remembering The Duke of Edinburgh from his family and archivist at Buckingham Palace. The personal anecdotes both made me move emotionally and laughed.

I enjoyed the parts of the Hereditary Prince of Baden showing picture of The Duke of Edinburgh at Princess Theodora's wedding, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence showing his diary during WWII and Lady Louise Windsor recount on their passion of carriage driving.

BBC released a short summary clip of the documentary, Prince Philip: The Royal Family Remembers on Youtube

 

[Durham]

The description of the action at Cape Matapan was fascinating!

 

[camelot23ca]

It was touching to see how much affection and respect the Duke of Edinburgh’s grandchildren have for him, and it’s wonderful that he had the longevity and the health to have been as involved with his youngest grandchildren as he was with their older cousins.

Louise’s participation was a pleasant surprise. She did well, I thought.

Philip doesn’t seem to have been particularly introspective, at least not that the family is willing to talk about, but he was clearly a capable, observant man who led a uniquely interesting life. It’s too bad, in a way, that he and the Queen weren’t willing to, and often couldn’t, speak about their experiences and thoughts on various issues. No one else has been in a position to observe and participate in British public life the way this couple did for so long.

 

[An Ard Ri]

What a lovely personal tribute to the duke and the Prince of Wales talking about his father reading Henry Wadsworth's poem Hiawatha was a highlight (it was a favourite of my late grandfathers).

 

[AC21091968]

In the Opening of Scottish Parliament, The Queen has spoken about her affection of Scotland and the fond memories Prince Philip and herself held.

The Queen has spoken publicly about the Duke of Edinburgh for the first time since his death in April.

Officially opening the new session of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood this morning, she told of the special place Scotland held in the couple’s affections.

She told MSPs in the socially distanced debating chamber: “I have spoken before of my deep and abiding affection for this wonderful country, and of the many happy memories Prince Philip and I always held of our time here.

“It is often said that it is the people that make a place, and there are few places where this is truer than in Scotland, as we have seen in recent times.”

Queen speaks publicly about Prince Philip for the first time since his death
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...-for-the-first-time-since-his-death-xl2qbhtwq
Archive link: https://archive.ph/88S16

 

[AC21091968]

In regards to the late Duke of Edinburgh's will, The Guardian (anti-monarchist, left-leaning newspaper) is putting an argument for press/media organisation to attend the court hearing of his will. The newspaper argued that the case should be reheard. It comes after Sir Andrew McFarlane (President of the family division of the High Court) ruled that Prince Philip's will should be sealed for 90 years. The media at that time were not told and were barred from attending (the court hearing).

Prince Philip’s will: legal battle launched over media exclusion from hearing
High court ruled in secret hearing in September that Philip’s will should be hidden from public for 90 years
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...le-launched-over-media-exclusion-from-hearing

I can't help but notice the use of "Windsor family" rather than The Royal Family with a capital "R" throughout the article, which reminded me a previous Guardian article referring The Queen as Elizabeth Windsor. Just making their republican stance more obvious

 

[Alisa]

This article perfectly summarizes my views!

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...ntain-to-make-the-royal-family-look-any-worse

 

[AC21091968]

ITV has released a documentary yesterday on the late Duke of Edinburgh titled Philip: Prince, Husband, Father. From reading the blurb/introduction, "rare archive recordings" were shown. Unfortunately, you need to be in the UK or have the VPN to watch the documentary on ITV's website.

Philip: Prince, Husband, Father
This film puts the late Prince Philip's own words front and centre, drawing on rare archive recordings, he touches upon a range of topics including the role of the monarchy.
https://www.itv.com/hub/philip-prince-husband-father/10a1179a0001

The Telegraph and The Times have written reviews for the documentary, which are mostly positive.

Philip: Prince, Husband, Father review: a fitting tribute for the most honest member of the monarchy
ITV's documentary gave insight into how Duke of Edinburgh's modernisation of the Royal family was never truly appreciated in his lifetime
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/philip-prince-husband-father-review-fitting-tribute-honest-member/
Archived link: https://archive.ph/C7Fdn

Philip: Prince, Husband, Father review — the man who put the royals on TV
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...ew-the-man-who-put-the-royals-on-tv-cgt62kjd5
Archived link: https://archive.ph/AQiIl

 

[AC21091968]

I have now found the Youtube link to the ITV's documentary, Philip: Prince, Husband, Father. Judging by previous documentaries on ITV or BBC, the video might be taken down soon due to copyright

 

[Claire]

I don't actually understand the reason behind the creation of this documentary. Nothing new - nothing in detail. No new insight, I don't want or expect gossip or new revelations. You can really do a whole documentary on just the Duke of Edinburgh as a nature conservationist, as a modernizer, on engineering, on polo, on carriage riding or on how he saw the need for young people development as character development. This is bad icing. As a character sketch it is barely there.

 

[Claire]

Commoration and Memorials for HRH The Duke of Edinburgh

Duke of Edinburgh commemorative stone celebrating Moray beginnings unveiled at Moray College UHI

https://www.northern-scot.co.uk/new...265954/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

I do find it concerning that when I asked if any royal will be opening the other stones - I was told that both the Princess Royal and Earl of Wessex has been approached. Both offices replied that all commorations of the DOE must be send to the Prince of Wales.