When Prince Philip married Queen Elizabeth he was making 11 pounds a week. Which adjusted for inflation would be around 400 of today’s British pound or around 550 dollars. Barely enough to make ends meet in yesterday, and today’s world. That’s why many people of the time were not thrilled Philip Mountbatten was going to marry then Princess Elizabeth.
Yet upon marriage to the Queen, he started getting the sovereign grant. Which is literally tax money given to the royals. Around 70 years of that and other business ventures saw Philip rack up a personal fortune of around 42 million dollars! That fortune will now be divided amongst family and staff members!
Exact amounts set in the will for each member of Philip’s family or staff member will not be publicly disclosed. However, we do have a good idea as to who is getting most of the cash! According to The Sun, naturally, most of the money will pass on to the Queen.
His 3 sons and his daughter Princess Anne have been told that they can browse around the Prince’s personal library of 13,000 plus books and take what they want. There are also some surprising characters in Prince Philip’s will.
A royal insider told The Sun, that the Prince was keen on leaving something behind for his staff members. Saying,
“Unlike some other royals, Prince Philip will be generous to the three men who looked after him,”
Taking a clear stab at the departed Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret. Anyway, he continued to say who from the staff is named in the will adding,
“[The list includes] his private secretary Brigadier Archie Miller Bakewell, his page William Henderson and valet Stephen Niedojadlo.”
Some of these men were beside Philip in his later years when he lived essentially alone at the Sandringham estate.
The people who are receiving money in the Prince’s will, won’t have to worry about inheritance tax. At least that is what the source claims as he mentioned,
“Philip had plenty of time to sort out all the legal stuff so it wouldn’t attract inheritance tax. He was no more of a fan of leaving his cash to the Treasury than anyone else.”
The Royal Family is not obligated to pay taxes, but they willingly have opened up their books to the public for years now. Still, if he legally passed everything onto the Queen and then she distributed his belongings there’s no legal way to tax her!
The insider claims that not only are his sons and daughter in the Prince’s will so are his grandchildren. That means that Prince Harry will also be getting at least a piece of those 42 million dollars!
On the possibility of Philip cutting Harry out of the will due to his recent claims the source mentions,
“Philip was not the sort of character to punish a grandson [Harry] for misbehaving. He was a very fair, even-handed, and lovely man. Never held a grudge.”
