Following Queen Elizabeth II’s death, much attention has been placed on what will happen to her estate and who will be the beneficiaries of it.
The estate, which is estimated to be valued at £15.2 billion in assets – which technically belong to the “Royal Firm” – includes the royal residences, the Queen’s personal wealth, and the royal archives.
King Charles III is the main obvious beneficiary and will inherit the Queen’s estate. He will inherit the Duchy of Lancaster, the main source of income for the monarchy.
Despite inheriting a vast fortune from the late Queen, King Charles will not pay any inheritance tax due to a clause passed in 1993 meaning any inheritance passed “sovereign to sovereign” will avoid the 40% charge.
However, it isn’t clear what other assets have been passed to the other family members, which would be subject to inheritance tax.
The Queen’s will remain private for at least 90 years, as explained by the law firm Stewarts, who stated:
“Royal wills have a long history of privacy, dating back to 1822.
In 1910, the court considered the position of members of the wider royal family, ruling that the will of Prince Francis of Teck, a brother of Queen Mary (consort of King George V), be ‘sealed’ and its contents kept private from the public.
Since then, this practice has become the norm for senior members of the royal family, and more than 30 wills have been similarly sealed.”
Judge Andrew McFarlane, the current president of the Family Division, is responsible for safeguarding all the royal wills. He justified the tradition of keeping the wills private, as he claimed:
“The degree of publicity that publication would be likely to attract would be very extensive and wholly contrary to the aim of maintaining the dignity of the sovereign.”
In 2002, the Queen mother’s will was made public. However, in 2021 following Prince Phillip’s death, his will was ruled to remain private for at least 90 years to protect the royal family’s privacy.
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