Britain’s royals used obscure legal procedure to hide distant relatives’ wills

Leopold de Rothschild, Prince George Valdemar Carl Axel of Denmark, Princess Margaret, Prince Francis Joseph Leopold Frederick of Teck and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Composite: Guardian/Alamy/Getty Images/Wikipedia/Gamma-Rapho

Wills detailing the assets of distant relatives of the royal family have been kept secret through an obscure legal procedure, a court document has revealed.

The Windsor family has over the last century managed to exempt itself from a law requiring the wills of British citizens to ordinarily be made public.

The identities of the more than 30 royal wills that were sealed over that period had not been formally made public.

That changed on Wednesday when a senior judge published the list of royals whose sealed wills are stored in a locked safe. The contents of the wills themselves remain secret.

One name on the original list released by the court was Leopold de Rothschild, Edward VII’s close friend, suggesting his will was made secret in 1917. It is unclear how the British banker would have been able to achieve this, given the exemption was supposed to apply to senior royals.

Hours after publishing its original list on Wednesday the court issued a new list, with Leopold de Rothschild’s name removed. A spokesperson for the court said the inclusion of Rothschild’s name on the original list was “an error” as he was not a member of the royal family.

The official publication of the list discloses for the first time the extent to which the secret legal procedure has been used – without the knowledge of the public – to conceal the wills of even minor members of the royal family.

Another name on the list is Prince George Valdemar Carl Axel, who died in 1986. A member of the Danish royal family, he was only distantly connected to the Windsor line by virtue of being a second cousin to the late Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

He was born and died in Denmark, and it is not clear why an application to seal his will was made in London.

Other names on the list include the Duke of Windsor, who was King Edward VIII until he abdicated the throne in 1936, as well as more obscure minor members of the Windsor family, such as grandchildren of Queen Victoria and various children of George V and Queen Mary.

David McClure, a royal finance expert and author of the book The Queen’s True Worth, said the contents of the list demonstrated how the sealing of wills, supposedly only for the highest-ranking members of the royal family, was in fact much more widely applied.

“If you were a royal of any European royal house you could, if you made enough of a song and dance about it, have your will sealed. It does slightly make a mockery of the whole process that this should be for more senior royals.”

Norman Baker, a former Liberal Democrat minister who has also written a book about the royals, suggested some wills may have been sealed to cover up “just how much money they have accumulated from public funds”. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said the royal family did not wish to comment.

For decades, lawyers for the royal family have successfully submitted legal applications to the high court to have wills kept secret after the deaths of family members. But the use of this procedure has drawn criticism, as it gives the royal family a right that is not granted to other British citizens.

The latest will to be sealed belonged to Prince Philip, who died this year. At a secret hearing in July, the president of the family division of the high court, Sir Andrew McFarlane, approved an application from the Queen’s private lawyers and the attorney general to keep his will secret for at least 90 years.

McFarlane said senior members of the royal family had to be exempted from the law requiring the publication of wills. This was “necessary to enhance the protection afforded to the private lives of this unique group of individuals, in order to protect the dignity and standing of the public role of the sovereign and other close members of her family”.

He published his ruling in September – the first time that a judgment ordering the sealing of a will of a member of the royal family had been made public. McFarlane ruled that “a level of transparency” had been established, adding that the list of the sealed wills should be made public – an instruction that was realised on Wednesday.

However, the small number of parties permitted to attend the court hearing, including the attorney general, successfully persuaded the judge to exclude the media from the hearing.

The Guardian is taking legal action to challenge the decision to exclude the media from the hearing. Its lawyers are seeking permission to argue that the high court’s failure to properly consider whether the press should be allowed to attend the hearing or make representations constitutes such a serious interference with the principle of open justice that the case should be reheard.

Royal wills sealed by order of the president of the family division of the high court

Prince Francis Joseph Leopold Frederick of Teck

Probate London 17 February 1911
The younger brother of Queen Mary of Teck, wife of George V. Seeking to cover up a sex scandal, Mary persuaded a judge to keep it closed as it is reported to have shown that he had bequeathed prized family jewels to a mistress.

Alexander William George, Duke of Fife

Probate London 24 May 1912
A Scottish peer who married Princess Louise, the third child and eldest daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.

Prince Maurice Victor Donald of Battenberg

Probate London 1 May 1917
The youngest grandchild of Queen Victoria. Killed in action in WWI, before the British royal family relinquished their German titles and the Battenbergs changed their name to Mountbatten.

Leopold de Rothschild*

1917
Was a British banker, a thoroughbred horse breeder, and a member of the prominent Rothschild family. He was a close friend of Edward VII.

Dowager Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Administration (with Will) London 13 December 1920
A granddaughter of George III, Princess Augusta of Cambridge married into the Grand Ducal House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. She was an aunt of Queen Mary.

Lord Leopold Louis Mountbatten

Probate London 15 June 1922
A grandson of Queen Victoria, known as Prince Leopold of Battenberg, later changed to Mountbatten.

Helen Frederica Augusta, Duchess of Albany

Probate London 29 December 1922
A member of the British royal family by marriage to Prince Leopold, youngest son of Queen Victoria.

Princess Helena Augusta Victoria, Princess Christian

The third daughter and fifth child of Queen Victoria. She married Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein.

Princess Frederica Sophia Maria Henrietta Amelia Theresa of Great Britain

Probate London 25 May 1927
Born in Hanover, the elder daughter of the Hereditary Prince of Hanover (later King George V of Hanover), in the UK she held the title of princess as a male-line great-granddaughter of King George III.

Princess Louise Victoria Dagmar, Princess Royal

Probate 13 April 1931
Probate London 5 June 1934
The third child and eldest daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, and a younger sister of King George V. Given the title Princess Royal in 1905.

Princess Victoria Alexandra Olga Mary

Probate London 11 March 1936
The fourth child and second daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, and a younger sister of King George V.

Queen Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria of Norway

Administration (with Will) London 16 February 1939
She was the wife of King Haakon VII of Norway, and the youngest daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.

Prince Arthur of Connaught

Probate London 1 March 1939
A grandson of Queen Victoria, he was a British military officer and served as governor general of the Union of South Africa. He undertook a wide variety of royal duties on behalf of George V, his cousin.

Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, Duchess of Argyll

Probate London 7 February 1940
The sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. In public life a strong proponent of the arts, higher education and the feminist cause.

Prince Arthur William Patrick Albert, Duke of Connaught

Probate Llandudno 10 March 1942
The seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, he served as governor-general of Canada and later represented the monarchy throughout the Empire.

Prince George Edward Alexander Edmund, Duke of Kent

Probate Llandudno 27 January 1943
Fourth son of George V and Queen Mary, and a younger brother of kings Edward VIII and George VI.

Princess Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodore of Battenberg

Probate Llandudno 14 May 1943
Fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Maud Alexandra Victoria Georgina Berth, Countess of Southesk

Probate Llandudno 22 March 1946
Princess Maud was a granddaughter of Edward VII.

Princess Louise Sophia Augusta Amelia Helena

Probate London 20 May 1948
A granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

Queen Mary

Probate London 5 August 1953
British Queen and wife of George V. Grandmother to the Queen Elizabeth II.

Princess Franziska Josepha Louise Augusta Maria Christiane

Probate London 12 March 1957
A granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

Princess Alexandra Victoria Alberta Ediwina Louise, Princess Arthur of Connaught

Probate London 23 April 1959
The eldest grandchild of King Edward VII and a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

Princess Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary, Princess Royal

Probate London 22 December 1965
Daughter of George V and Queen Mary. Attended at her wedding by Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, later Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent

Probate London 11 October 1968
A Greek princess who married Prince George, the Duke of Kent and the fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary. She was the mother of Prince Michael of Kent.

Prince William of Gloucester

Probate London 24 October 1972
A grandson of George V and a cousin of Elizabeth II. He died aged just 30 in an air crash.

Duke of Windsor

Administration (with Will) London 17 November 1972
Better known as Edward VIII, the former king who abdicated the throne in 1936 in order to marry an American divorcee, Wallis Simpson.

Lady Victoria Patricia Helena Elizabeth Ramsay

Probate London 17 April 1974
A granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Prince Henry William Frederick Albert, Duke of Gloucester

Probate London 9 September 1974
The third son of George V and Queen Mary, and governor-general of Australia from 1945 and 1947.

Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas, Earl Mountbatten of Burma

Probate London 27 February 1980
Uncle of Prince Philip and second cousin once removed of Elizabeth II. He served as the last Viceroy of India.

Princess Mary Victoria Augusta Pauline, Countess of Athlone

Probate London 30 June 1981
The last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria.

Prince George Valdemar Carl Axel of Denmark

Probate London 20 May 1987
Eldest son of Prince Axel of Denmark and second cousin of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

Princess Margaret

Probate London 24 June 2002
The youngest daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and the younger sister of Elizabeth II.

Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother

Probate London 15 April 2002
Wife of King George VI and mother to the current queen, Elizabeth II.

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* A spokesperson for the court said the inclusion of Rothschild’s name on the original list was “an error” as he was not a member of the royal family.

• This article was amended on 25 November 2021 to correct details about the position of Princess Louise in her family in the entry about Alexander William George, Duke of Fife.