Before Sir Michael Gambon’s passing last year, the only time I ever wrote about him in a gossipy way was back in 2009, when I came across a story about how his established mistress had just given birth to their second child together. Gambon had been married to his British-aristocrat wife, Lady Anne Gambon, since 1962, and they have a son, Fergus Gambon. He had also established a second family with his mistress Philippa Hart and they had two sons, Tom and Will. Lady Anne lives in the Gambon country estate, while Philippa and their two teenage sons live in London. Well, Sir Michael passed away last September, and his will has just become public. He left everything to his wife and eldest son, and nothing much to his mistress and their sons.
Sir Michael Gambon has handed over his £1.5million estate to his wife – leaving nothing to the long-term girlfriend with whom he had two teenage sons. The Dumbledore actor famously shared his time between Lady Anne Gambon and set designer Phillipa Hart 25 years his junior. After his death last September aged 82, his will has been published today, showing almost the entire fortune has passed to Lady Anne.
She is listed as an executor along with her son, Fergus, 60, by the star who appeared in six Harry Potter movies as Hogwarts headteacher Prof Albus Dumbledore. Provision was made for the £1,465,882 fortune to pass to Fergus if his mother had died before her husband.
Meanwhile Ms Hart, who lived openly with Sir Michael in a West London townhouse, does not receive her penny in the will which was drawn up and signed in 2016. She had two children with the actor – Tom, 17, and 15-year-old William, who each received just £10,000 and a trophy, according to the three-page document. They are both given a silver heart Variety Club of Great Britain stage actor award – the eldest getting the one awarded to his dad in 1987, while the youngest gets the trophy presented in 2000.
Ms Hart declined to tell the Daily Mail if she was aware she had been left out of the will. Speaking from her £1.5million Victorian terraced four-bed, she said: ‘It’s none of my business. I really don’t want to talk about this.’
Fergus also declined to comment when approached at their £5million Grade II listed family mansion in Meopham, Kent. He said of his mother: ‘She won’t want to speak to you.’
Sir Michael died in September last year aged 82 following a bout of pneumonia, with his wife Anne and son Fergus at his bedside.
This is just a reminder that the only thing that separates the trailer park and the upper-crust is money. Money buys the thin veneer of “respectability.” But even they can’t hide their completely trashy behavior. To start a whole other family and then leave your mistress and your “other” children next to nothing? £10,000 and a trophy, while the wife and eldest son get everything? The absolute shenanigans of this. It also makes me wonder WTF is in all of those secret royal wills. I’d still like to know how Prince Philip got such a large estate and what kind of money he bequeathed to his special friend and companion Penny.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.