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.
She is survived by the 90-year-old Duke and their three children, George, Earl of St Andrews, 64, Lady Helen Taylor, 62, and Lord Nicholas Windsor, 55, as well as 10 grandchildren.
The Duchess was much loved for her empathetic approach to royal duty and her openness about her physical and mental health in an era when that was still largely taboo. In 1997, she revealed in an interview with The Telegraph that she had given birth to a stillborn son, Patrick, after a full-term pregnancy in 1977.
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.telegraph.co.uk ’
