When Prince Philip passed away in 2021, his will was quickly sealed for 90 years. We still don’t know what was in the will, how much money Philip had when he passed or what kind of money he handed out to various people inside and outside of his family. There was a lot of criticism about the sealed will and a lot of speculation about what the Windsors were hiding. Well, the Duchess of Kent passed away last year, and King Charles apparently ordered her will to be made public?? That’s what the Telegraph insinuates, but I think it’s far more likely that they didn’t seal her will because there’s nothing really dramatic in it at all.
The Duchess of Kent, who died last year aged 92, left more than £1.4m in her will to her husband and children. Probate records, seen by The Telegraph, show the Duchess left the majority of her fortune to her husband and their three children.
The Duchess was married to Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, the first cousin of Elizabeth II, for 64 years, and earned the nickname of “Caring Kate” because of her empathy and devotion to charity work.
She left £10,000 in her will to the musical charity she co-founded in 2004, Future Talent, which supports gifted young musicians from low-income backgrounds.
The details of the will have been made public less than a month after the King, who has instructed aides to open up royal finances to unprecedented scrutiny, made his personal tax bill public for the first time. In June, a palace source confirmed it was the monarch’s “clear wish and instruction” that the complicated royal finances be made more transparent.
The wills of senior members of the Royal family are normally sealed for at least 90 years, but the will of the Duchess is thought to have been made public because she stepped down from royal duties and dropped her HRH title in 2002 to teach music in a state school.
The Duchess, who was the first member of the Royal family to publicly convert to Catholicism in more than 300 years, died at Kensington Palace last September surrounded by members of her family.
In her will, drawn up on Oct 5, 2022, and signed “Katharine Kent”, the Duchess left £5,000 each to her nine godchildren, while her personal possessions – such as jewellery and furniture – were left to her husband.
I’m a little bit surprised that she created her will in 2022, when she was just shy of 90 years old. Look at the date too – she had her will drawn up just a few weeks after Queen Elizabeth II passed away. It’s possible she had a will before 2022 and this was just the latest version though. Anyway, a fortune of £1.4 million is nothing to sneeze at, but how did she accumulate that kind of money on a music teacher’s salary? I’m sure the bulk of her estate being left to her husband was a tax thing.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
