 |
| Mrs. Greville as a young woman |
Mrs. Ronald Greville -- Dame Margaret Helen Greville, DBE of Charles Street, Berkeley Square, and Polesden Lacey, Dorking, -- died on September 15, 1942. The details of her will were published in The Times on January 8, 1943. She left £1,564,038 gross. The net was £1,505,120, and the tax was paid on £830,120.
She left "with my loving thoughts" of her her jewelry and jewels to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. Princess Margaret received £20,000, and Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain, who was a close friend received £12,500 "with a deep affection and in memory of a great kindness and affection which her Majesty has shown me."
Mrs. Greville also left £10,000 to the National Anti-Vivisection Society. There were also smaller bequests to different charities.
The current value of the £20,000 is just over £2 million. Queen Ena's bequest would be worth about £1,400,000 in current values.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/polesden-lacey
The current value of the £20,000 is just over £2 million. Queen Ena's bequest would be worth about £1,400,000 in current values.
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/polesden-lacey
5 comments:
The current biography of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother indicates that Mrs. Greville had intended to leave her house to the then Duke of York. The Duke and Duchess spent part of their honeymoon there. But once he was King, he did not need a house, and so she left jewelry and other bequests, and gave the house to the National Trust. The Duchess of Cornwall now wears some of Mrs. Greville's jewels. Greetings Marlene, jinja
Yes, I know. I read the book - and I was at Polesden Lacey in August
Hello, I´m spanish and my english is ......CAÑÓN :-P, but ¿Can you post the original Will?
Thanks and continue with this wontherfull Blog.
thanks for your kind remarks - I do not have access to the entire will, just what was published in The Times.
Marlene, I've read that Mrs. Greville was an inimate of Edward VII, Queen Mary, Ena Queen of Spain, as well as the Yorks. It must have been her great wealth that attracted them and her ability to entertain them in an appropriate royal fashion, after all she was an illegitimate child which was an enormous social stigma back then. Queen Mary had an obsession with fabulous jewels, and I think that she and the Duchess of York must have pandered to Mrs. Greville knowing of her jewellery collection and her owning a diamond necklace that had belonged to Marie Antoinette. (The Queen Mother inherited much of her jewellery, including the Marie Antoinette necklace).
In the past when British Royals visited Australia they were only entertained privately by the fabulously rich who could provide the luxuries to which they were accustomed, such as stables of thoroughbred polo ponies and luxury yachts. Prince William, on his recent visit here, defied this trend and, like his mother Diana, spent time with the disadvantaged and disabled.
Rex
Post a Comment