Article about hiding wealth in wills

[LaTricoteuseVieux]

One of the RF's little tricks to hide how much money they have is to insist that certain wills are not public documents as they usually are. Guardian Article

This particular item is about the National Archives and their documents.

that's not new knowledge even the article is from 2021. what is your issue with this?

I thought all wills were private unless they go to probate?

It's not a "little trick", it's a well-known feature of the system, and is a regular part of systems with a hereditary head of state

So they've managed (up till 2021) to keep private the wills of 33 family members.

I can understand the monarch and direct family, but 33? This has also applied to distant relatives.

So what? Why shouldn’t they be private? I don’t have a problem with it at all.

It’s politicians who should answer to us about their finances. The royal family are just a rich famous family.

A rich famous family whose head is able to influence law and exempt his family from it in order to preserve those riches.

Has anyone actually read the article? It's about the National Archives removing items from public view that even mention that the Monarch is making certain wills private. And goes on to talk about how even distant members of the family have their wills closed.

Unlike the rest of us who, after probate, our wills are public.

No wills are private apart from those of the RF which are sealed in case we get a glimpse of their humumgous wealth

Of course it’s a disgrace OP but as Roussette says - the ‘royals’ need to operate in secrecy in order to survive

We know enough about the things that they haven’t been able to keep a lid on - support for sex offenders and pedophiles , financial corruption etc and most people now want them
gone - esp people under 50 .

Speaking of secrecy , did you notice that William has decreed that he will not publish the Duchy accounts ?

Charles had made them available
to some extent - they were never scrutinised by government auditors.
He’s dismissive and out of touch

There was little enough transparency about how the ‘royals’ spent their public money ( they do not own the Duchys , neither do they have any
managerial role - they just take the money ) but William is reducing even the little there was .

Good grief, that doesn't surprise me
Secrecy rules
Why on earth will Duchy accounts not be published? They don't own them so that's appalling. I have a sinking feeling @Novella4 at what William might do in the future if this is his MO.

I must correct my previous statement
Wills are public knowledge after probate as the PP said.

Apparently Joe Public CAN seal a Will but it is a lengthy and very expensive process, so very rarely happens
It is often not accepted too, so money wasted

William will be a disaster .

William’s excuse that he hasn’t been ensconced for a full year .

So he has decided that no accounts will published .

This excuse does raise more questions than it answers

https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

I can't find this anywhere?

So let's see, KC can share his wealth with Camilla and her family and we will never know...

William’s excuse that he hasn’t been ensconced for a full year .

So he has decided that no accounts will published .

I suppose that's because it's now deemed private. Or public. Or whatever category means he can keep his unearned millions hidden from prying plebs.

I wonder if it's been influenced by the criticism over Earthshot spending £12m of which only £5m was prizes?

If he defers those accounts (due end March) on a trumped up excuse I for one will be fummin'.

And yes, OP. Shocking meddling in what we have a right to know but wearisomely par for the course.

Just why aren't the filthy peasants kept quiet by the spectacle?

I'd heard about the wills already, and TBH nothing would surprise me about any of them anymore.

Aux Barricades, citoyens!

The late Queen Mother famously owed millions to Coutts. But I daresay she was asset rich although cash poor and she left a lot of money to Harry, it is said. No idea of the veracity of any of this,
But it's scandalous that they are able to hide their wealth in this way. When Queen Victoria ascended the throne she was in debt. How the RF managed to turn that around to become one of the richest in Britain would make interesting reading.
The Guardian has been fighting hard on this but to no avail as yet.

A family who head our church, can influence politics and who ... oh I can't

The late Queen Mother famously owed millions to Coutts.

The late queen paid it off but still scored some £20m via the monarch to monarch IHT exemption.

Bargain.

Why is this in everyone's interest? It's not like they influence anything important politically either

The duchey accounts would interest me though