Court Rules Royal Wills Can Be Inspected

According to Duncan Campbell, Accountant lifts veil from royal wills, guardian.co.uk, Feb. 9, 2008:

A 53-year-old Jersey accountant who believes he may be the son of Princess Margaret and 12th in line to the throne yesterday won a landmark ruling which opens the door for the inspection of the wills of members of the royal family, ending nearly a century of secrecy.

The ruling by the court of appeal was welcomed by campaigners for greater transparency about royal affairs. It emerged during the hearings that Princess Margaret, who died in 2002, left an estate worth nearly £8m.***

The current arrangement, whereby the wills were kept secret, was the result of a clandestine ruling by the then president of the family division, Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, following top-secret representations from the then attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, and the royal solicitors, Farrer’s.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.