Prince Philip’s will to be sealed to protect Queen Elizabeth’s dignity, court rules
- The document will remain private for at least 90 years, with no copy to be made for the record or kept on the court file
- The move follows a convention dating back more than a century, with over 30 royal wills currently held in a court safe
The will of Prince Philip, the late husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, will be sealed and remain private for at least 90 years to preserve the monarch’s dignity, a judge at London’s High Court has ruled.
Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who had been married to the 95-year-old British monarch for more than seven decades, died at the age of 99 at his wife’s Windsor Castle home to the west of London on April 9.
In keeping with a convention dating back to 1910, Andrew McFarlane, the president of the court’s Family Division, said he had agreed Philip’s will should be sealed up “and that no copy of the will should be made for the record or kept on the court file”.
He also ruled in favour of the request “to exclude the value of the estate from the grant of probate”.
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Prince Philip, husband of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, dies at age 99
“The degree of publicity that publication would be likely to attract would be very extensive and wholly contrary to the aim of maintaining the dignity of the Sovereign,” McFarlane said in a ruling published on Thursday.