Executor of HRH Prince Philip v HM Attorney General & anr [2022] WTLR 1251

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Winter 2022 #189

This was an appeal against the decision of the president of the Family Division (PFD) to seal for 90 years the will of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, to publish a list of 33 sealed wills of deceased members of the Royal Family, and to seal those 33 wills for 90 years (Re Will of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh [2021]).

At the start of the original hearing, the PFD directed that the hearing should take place in private, having only heard submissions from Prince Philip’s executor and the Attorney General (AG), but that the judgment should be made public....

Re Will of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh [2021] WTLR 1545

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | Winter 2021 #185

This was an application by the executor of HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, for an order that his will be sealed up and that no copy of the will should be made for the record or kept on the court file, and for a direction to exclude the value of the estate from the grant of probate. The Attorney General was the sole defendant whose role it was to represent the public interest. The Attorney General strongly supported the application.

Applications to seal the wills of senior members of the Royal Family had been made for over a century. It appeared that they were always hear...

Re Shuldham [2012] EWHC 1420 (Ch)

Wills & Trusts Law Reports | November 2012 #124

The applicant intended to bring a claim for rectification of an instrument by which he and two other family members had purported to grant an interest in land and a lease commencing in the year 2040. The instrument was part of a larger scheme in relation to a deceased’s estate, whereby the freehold of properties subject to it were held by the deceased’s daughter (XH) with a lease in favour of her, currently minor, child (XB). The purpose of this scheme was a reduction in XH’s estate over time so as to mitigate future inheritance tax liabilities.

The family’s concern about bringing...