What Was Really In Princess Diana's Will

It’s amazing that we were able to find out what was in Princess Diana’s will at all, really — that wouldn’t usually be allowed for royals. That’s because the English court is usually requested to seal the will of a deceased highness. It’s been that way for more than 100 years, but Princess Diana was an exception to the rule.

It was the case for Prince Philip, who passed away in 2021. People won’t be allowed to see what’s in his will for just shy of a century. That’s what the English High Court said. It ruled that the “dignity and standing” of Queen Elizabeth II needs to be upheld. This is uncommon for British wills, which anyone can usually request to see.

The judge who gave the ruling explained why. They said, “I accepted the submission that, whilst there may be public curiosity as to the private arrangements that a member of the Royal Family may choose to make in their will, there is no true public interest in the public knowing this wholly private information.” But the situation was very different for Diana.

In 1998, the public won out, and it was decided that Princess Diana’s will wouldn’t remain a secret. Quite the opposite, in fact. The law firm responsible for her estate said it wouldn’t even ask for the will to be sealed. Lawyer Martyn Gowar of the Lawrence Graham law firm confirmed that he and his colleagues hadn’t taken this step. Why?

Press agency AP reported that Gowar said, “It’s not going to be a private document as it could have been.” The princess’ family wanted to meet the public’s almost insatiable lust to know all there is to know about their beloved Diana. So the will was released just like any other, and people were able simply to walk into Somerset House in London and purchase their own version to take home.

Not that the press had to wait for the will to be available at the government archives. Nope, someone sneakily showed it to journalists. And to their surprise, it wasn’t really a complicated document at all. But the reports that were released with it were the first hint that things weren’t quite as they seemed. There was even talk of the will being adjusted, for instance.

In fact, there are still some unanswered questions about the will that won’t ever get cleared up. The thing is, Princess Diana also wrote a document called a “Letter of Wishes,” but the executors didn’t follow its instructions. That meant the money the princess left her sons didn’t arrive when she’d planned.

These questions are important because Princess Diana left a ton of money in her will — among other things. This didn’t exactly look like it would be the case when she and Charles first started seeing each other. Back then, Diana worked as a nanny and in a kindergarten class, so she wasn’t exactly raking in the cash. It equated to about $5 an hour — definitely not a king’s ransom! But you’d never guess that from looking at her will years later.

In her will, Diana ended up leaving nearly $32 million in 1997 money, which is about $55 million at the time of writing. And that wasn’t everything. She’d gathered a fair few jewels, and of course, an epic selection of clothes made by the top designers.

It wasn’t really surprising where Diana had gained all of that money. When she divorced Prince Charles in 1996, the princess received a settlement that was reported to be “$22.5 million in cash, as well as about $600,000 a year to maintain her private office.” She didn’t receive any regular alimony, though.

So, who did Diana trust to execute her wishes after she passed? Two ladies got the job: one was Frances Ruth Shand Kydd and the other was Lady Elizabeth Sarah Lavinia McCorquodale. These two weren’t just any splendidly named English aristos — the former was Diana’s mom and the latter her big sister.

Lady Sarah wasn’t supposed to get the job in the first place. The man initially earmarked as executor was Patrick Jephson, who had been Diana’s private secretary. But he moved out of the job in 1996, after Diana did something that the world would never, ever forget.

Jephson’s version of the story came out in 2021, when revelations about journalist Martin Bashir surfaced. Bashir was involved in a huge scandal that showed he’d told fibs and forged papers to get Diana to do a candid tell-all on TV program Panorama. And some of the lies had supposedly been about Jephson, who’d felt upset at the interview and had quit his post when he’d found out about it. So, it was down to Diana’s mom and sister to sort out the will.

And when they saw it, the pair weren’t happy. They made that clear by taking legal action to get a “variation order.” This permitted them to alter the bequests in the will and the associated “Letter of Wishes.” Diana had penned this document the day after drawing up her will, and it would usually have legal force. What was different this time?

The alteration of Diana’s stated wishes wasn’t a public matter like the will, though. It was kept on the down-low, and what the ladies had done only came out years later. That’s when Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell was himself in court. And when the truth emerged, there were some very unhappy people.

Burrell is an interesting character and was extremely close to the princess. Diana is well known to have described him as “her rock.” When she passed, Burrell was heartbroken and was the only non-family member permitted to attend her burial. He even made the catalog of the things that she’d left behind.

The executors were allowed to not pay any attention to the “Letter of Wishes.” That’s because it wasn’t written in the way that the law insists on. So, the outcome was that Diana’s sister and mom were able to do what it said if it suited them, regardless of what the princess may have wanted.

Now it may be — no one can say for sure — that Diana’s relations simply wanted to do right by William and Harry. After all, the outcome of their decision did seem to favor the princes. On the other hand, though, the brothers did have to wait an extra five years before they saw any of the money that they were entitled to. And there were other items that Diana had wanted to pass down, too.

Aside from the money, there were, of course, her physical possessions. That includes the beautiful dress in which she married Charles. And there were also more dresses, lots of jewelry, some photos, and even the lyrics to Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind.”

So, if that collection of things didn’t go to the boys straight away, who had it? Well, Diana’s sibling Earl Spencer took care of it. And he put all of that stuff on display for a couple of months a year at Althorp, Diana’s childhood home. And people who came to look at the collection coughed up a tidy fee for the pleasure. The rest of the time it went on a tour of museums and various exhibitions.

That, as you can imagine, made a ton of money. The website for the Princess Diana Collection said that by 2011, it had raked in $2 million, which went to charity. But word went around that it actually brought in more than 15 times that. Diana’s family said it all went to a fund that had been set up in her memory.

In her will, Diana had asked that documents such as the “Letter of Wishes” be put into action “not later than two years” after she had passed. This would have meant a windfall for the people she’d named. But by ignoring the letter, the Spencer family used the collection to make money for 17 years.

So, who did people think would cash in from Diana’s will? Back in the day, William would have gotten the lot. He’s the eldest child, after all. But before anyone saw the will, fans suggested it would look very different. As a future king, William stands to make a lot of cash from the Crown estate — while Harry does not. So, maybe the younger prince would get all of Diana’s inheritance, they were wondering.

That didn’t happen. The plan was that the boys would share three-quarters of the estate’s proceeds equally. They’d initially been set to get the money when they were 25, but the executors changed the age of inheritance to 30. Although it’s no compensation for losing a beloved parent, $16 million — which is what they each likely received — surely comes in handy.

But, as we know, the two sons didn’t get everything in the will. Nope, Diana wouldn’t forget her godchildren — and she had plenty of them. There were 17 kids who could say the Princess of Hearts was their godmother. Apparently, she was very fond of them all and wanted to help them out.

Diana kept these kids in mind when she was thinking about what to do in the event of her passing. In her “Letter of Wishes,” she wrote, “I would like you to divide, at your discretion, my personal chattels between my sons and my godchildren. The division is to be three-quarters in value to my sons and one-quarter between my godchildren.”

“Personal chattels” is a fancy way of saying “my things.” And in Diana’s case, that meant a swag of cars, clothes, and jewelry. Sharing a quarter of her things among 17 inheritors might sound like they wouldn’t get much, but it amounted to $160,000 each. So it represented something of a considerable windfall.

It was, though, a windfall that Diana’s godchildren would never get. The legal action brought by the princess’ sister and mom altered the bequest, so the godkids only ended up with a single item from Diana’s “chattels.” And the executors chose these pieces. Some of the recipients are reported to have dubbed what they got as a “tacky memento.”

Diana’s sons also got to take one bit of jewelry each, but they were allowed to choose their own. William opted for a watch by Cartier, while Harry picked her engagement ring, resplendent with diamonds and sapphires. But because William got engaged first, they actually swapped. That’s why you may well have seen Meghan sporting the watch.

But what happened to Diana’s stuff once it had been handed over to Harry and William? Well, they most likely didn’t need any cash that might flow from the collection. After all, they got the $16 million before tax, which proved a lifeline for Harry.

When Oprah Winfrey interviewed the prince and Meghan, Harry shared that his family had closed the money faucet. He said, “I have what my mom left me, and without that, we wouldn’t have been able to do this. It’s like she saw it coming, and she’s been with us through this whole process.”

The princes and godchildren weren’t the only people to benefit from the will. Diana also left just over $80,000 to Burrell. But it seems this didn’t satisfy the former butler, as he’s been known to use his connection to the princess to make a lot more money. He even ended up on trial, accused of robbing some of her possessions. He was found not guilty, though.

One surprising omission from Diana’s will was charities. The princess didn’t give any one particular organization money, but she did set up a fund that aimed to provide cash for the groups that she favored. It was, however, seeded with just a small sum, and her sons were allowed to dip into it. On the plus side, charities could still make money from Diana’s image and name, since they were left the rights.

One group that did do very well out of Diana’s estate was the U.K. government, which took a huge cut through taxes. The government’s share ended up being roughly $14 million. But it could have ended up getting a great deal less if Prince Charles had used a perfectly legal tactic.

Charles could have put in what’s known as a Barder application to retrieve millions he’d given in the divorce settlement. That’s because the settlement was given after the will was written. So, Diana had made her bequests based on what she’d had at the time, which was a lot less money than she ended up with.

Once Charles had the money back, he could have popped it into a trust for the princes. This would have brought a much lower amount in taxes. Imagine how much the press would have feasted on the idea that Charles was robbing the estate for his own pocket, though! It’s no wonder he gave it a miss!

There was another point in Diana’s will: she wanted to be buried instead of cremated. As it turned out, Diana had a huge send-off. Millions lined the street to see her casket go by, and she was then buried at Althorp. So, at least this was somewhat in line with her wishes.

Diana also asked that, “Should I predecease my husband… he will consult with my mother with regard to the upbringing in education and welfare of our children.” This proved quite prescient, given that Charles was a fair bit older than her. When she wrote it, Diana probably would have had every expectation of outliving him. It’s not known whether he complied.

For us, one question remains: who ended up with the wedding dress? You know, that beautiful creation by the Emmanuels, with its resplendent, 25-foot train. Well, when Harry turned 30, Diana’s brother handed it over to her two sons. Of course, neither of their wives wore it at their weddings. Kate chose a stunning dress designed by Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen. But it would be the embroiderer who would come forward with details about making the dress — and what Kate was really like in the fittings.

The creator in question is called Chloe Savage, an embroiderer. And an extremely good one. You’ve probably seen her work without even realizing it, especially if you watch a lot of movies. She worked on the Harry Potter film costumes as well as creating some fabulous red carpet one-offs.

And Savage worked not only on Kate Middleton’s wedding outfit, but Meghan Markle’s, too. Although she never got to meet Meghan, she was one of the people responsible for creating her massive 16-foot veil. The veil featured flowers representing every country in the British Commonwealth, and it was a huge hit.

Savage spoke to Insider magazine in 2021 about the differences between Kate and Meghan’s wedding designs. She said, “Kate’s was demure and very clean, but she’s not a flashy person – if you know what I mean. Meghan’s is more flashy, off-the-shoulder was far more risqué. But then she’s a risk-taker by comparison. It showcases their personalities.”

In the same interview Savage remembered that she’d actually met Prince Philip briefly as a child. When she was six years old, she’d literally run into him while in Barbados. She said, “We were chasing piglets, I can’t remember why, and I fell and he picked me up, dusted me off, put me on my feet, and said, ‘Pigs went that way.’”

Savage also discussed how she became involved in Kate’s wedding dress project. She recalled to Insider, “We got a cryptic email saying, ‘Are you available between these dates? We’ve got a big project coming in.’ When the bombshell dropped it was like, ‘Oooh!’ because we knew who the designer was and everything else at that point, which nobody else in the world did.”

On the day of the royal wedding, the Palace released a statement saying of the choice, “Miss Middleton chose British brand Alexander McQueen for the beauty of its craftsmanship and its respect for traditional workmanship and the technical construction of clothing.”

The statement went on, “The dress design pays tribute to the Arts and Crafts tradition, which advocated truth to materials and traditional craftsmanship using simple forms and often Romantic styles of decoration. Ms Burton’s design draws on this heritage, additionally giving the cut and the intricate embellishment a distinctive, contemporary and feminine character.”

The dress was a big hit with millions of royal wedding watchers. And Mark Badgley of luxury brand Badgley Mischka told the New York Times newspaper at the time, “Any bride across the world will want to wear it. It’s got a touch of vintage, a classic 1950s’ ball gown, so timeless that her daughter would look gorgeous in this gown 30 years from now.”

Designer Oscar de la Renta told the same publication, “She had a perfect dress, a very traditional dress for a very traditional wedding. What I liked about it was, it was not ostentatious. There was not 50 meters of train, and it was not over embroidered. It was just a very traditional dress for a ravishing girl who doesn’t need a lot.”

Naturally, a dress like that came with a huge price tag attached. Kate’s dress is thought to have cost $332,000 at the time it was created, which would equate to around $345,000 today. Apparently it was Kate’s parents, not the royal family, who paid out that small fortune for the gown. Oh well, traditions of the bride and all that. 

It was actually one of the most expensive royal wedding dresses in history – but not quite as expensive as Diana’s. Her dress would have been worth about $490,000 by today’s standards! And the comparisons between the two dresses didn’t end there.

American designer Vera Wang told the New York Times, “Diana’s dress had a sense of innocence, whimsy, almost storybook romance. In contrast Catherine’s gown was about way more than simply the dress. Sarah Burton channeled a new take on classicism for a modern-day bride who will one day be queen.”

Fashion strategist Kimberly Lee Minor suggested that Diana was overpowered by her dress on the day, while Kate wasn’t. She said, “[Kate] was wearing the dress, the dress wasn’t making the statement for her. It was not overwhelming. It was very modern. When I looked at her standing at the altar, you could see Kate.”

Diana suffered many behind-the-scenes difficulties with her dress, incidentally. On the day of the wedding she spilled some perfume on it, though luckily the stain was unnoticeable. Plus the dress didn’t fit properly in the royal carriage and was creased by the time she arrived at the church.

And there was another issue that nobody foresaw. When the big day finally arrived, Diana had lost a lot of weight. The dress literally wouldn’t fit her properly, so she had to be sewn into it. It later came out that Diana had an eating disorder – and we know now that everything surrounding the wedding was very difficult for her. 

Diana herself explained this in the 1997 biography by Andrew Morton, Diana: Her True Story. She said, “The first time I was measured for my wedding dress, I was 29 inches around the waist. The day I got married, I was 23½ inches. I had shrunk into nothing from February to July.”

Luckily Kate’s situation was better, and things went smoothly for her on the biggest day of her life. There was a small media crisis beforehand, though. Somebody – no-one knows who – leaked to the media that Sarah Burton would be the dress designer, and Kate was reportedly upset. She’d wanted it to be kept secret.

In the 2019 documentary Secrets of the Royal Dressmakers, royalty expert Katie Nicholl said, “Behind the scenes I think that caused tears at the Palace because Kate had done everything she could to keep the wedding dress a secret.” Burton, however, did her part by denying she really was the royal designer.

Everything regarding Kate’s wedding dress was so secretive that even a year later Burton remained coy to the media . She told Sarah Jessica Parker for Interview magazine in 2012, “I’m not actually allowed to talk much about it at all. It was a precious, magical time that I’ll always treasure, and I feel like she gave me a gift in many ways.”

Burton did however open up to T Magazine two years later in 2014. She said, “I loved making the dress … and we put our hearts into it. I respect the intimate nature of that lovely project and I respect the friendships that were forged during it.” She added, “I was honored to pick up the challenge and always will be.”

And so was Chloe Savage. She was always passionate about her dressmaking career. She told The Guardian newspaper in 2018, “I love my job and the variety of it – one day I might be working for Dior or embroidering a private commission like a wedding dress or a christening gown, and the next day I might be repairing a textile for the National Trust.” So what about the dress we all want to know about?

Savage went on, “I love seeing my work in a magazine or on a movie star on the red carpet. I also love the beautiful items I get to wear. You carry yourself differently when you’re wearing a beautifully cut piece of clothing. It fits so well it gives you confidence.” Kate Middleton certainly wasn’t a movie star, but possibly the next best thing for Savage.

The textile artist added, “Embroidering is such a historic skill. When I see a beautiful piece of embroidery, inspiration often just hits me and I feel an instant connection with all the couture embroiderers of the past. Like them, I rarely get to wear what I embroider.” But a princess did...

Savage spoke all about her experience making Kate’s dress to People magazine in April 2021, almost ten years after the big day. She remembered, “Kate had her final fitting at Sarah Burton’s salon early in the morning the day before her wedding.” But why was it left until the last minute like that?

It was to avoid what had happened to Princess Diana. Savage explained, “Brides have a tendency to do things like drop half a stone [seven pounds] before a wedding and as her dress was going to be seen from every conceivable angle by a billion people, you couldn’t have it being a bit saggy because she’d lost weight or gained a couple of ounces due to stress.”

And Savage told People that on that last fitting day, “We were all sitting around the studio at about nine o’clock waiting for the dress to come back with any final adjustments. We hadn’t finalized the lace down the seams yet. We had most of it on the dress but had left the lace loose in the seam to accommodate for that final fitting.”

As it turned out, the dress needed only a small amount of alteration and then it was all ready to go. It was actually the matching shoes that took a longer time. Savage remembered, “We had the dress finished by about 9 p.m. but were still tweaking the lace on the shoes until about 10 p.m.”

With mere hours to go before Kate walked down the aisle, everything was finally finished. Savage reminisced to People, “Around 10 p.m., Sarah Burton did her final inspection, then we carefully packed everything all up and handed it to the guy who was escorting the dress to Kate. We then went to the pub for a drink!” It was a well-deserved one.

And the next morning Savage got to see Kate wearing her work as the royal bride walked into the famous Westminster Abbey. She watched the ceremony on TV with her young daughter, who according to Savage “didn’t know what I’d been up to for months and was quite excited when I told her that mummy had dressed a princess.”

Savage told People, “On the day, it was a case of ‘Oh thank God, we’ve done it!’ but also with an incredible sense of pride. And a bit of shock too, because actually, you’ve not properly realized what you’ve been working on until you see the pictures of Kate splashed across every TV screen, newspaper and website!”

The embroiderer added, “When we were making the dress, we had to keep everything a total secret.” All the designers worked in the isolated Hampton Court Palace while making it. But Savage said, “I have to confess that I might have texted a few mates during the ceremony to say ‘By the way...!’”

Another member of the dressmaking team, Mandy Ewing, spoke to the media about the insane levels of secrecy. She told Hello magazine in 2017, “We knew who it was for, but it was very secret – we had net curtains up and cleaners were not allowed into the room and the code on the door was changed. The dress was all in the news, but nobody knew who was doing it.”

But now everyone involved is free to talk. And Savage has also spoken about what it was like to work with Kate herself. In December 2020 she told People, “Kate came in a few times. She was lovely. The usual blushing bride. She was excited about the dress, nervous about the day, questioning what we were doing... all that sort of stuff.” But there was more.

The dressmaker also complimented the now Duchess of Cambridge in her April 2021 interview with Insider. She gushed, “She’s so incredibly normal! She really is! Where I live in Bristol isn’t far from Prince Charles’ estate, and he has a reputation for being uppity. But Kate is so normal.”

Savage went on, “[Kate’s] had a much more normal upbringing. She’s dealt with people and been to parties without a full entourage of security guards. Charles and [William and Harry’s] upbringing was, of course, much more secured in that sense. They weren’t going to be found in the local pub.”

Kate’s wedding dress was so well-received that it actually changed bridal fashion. For years afterwards, women bought and commissioned dresses that looked just like hers. Strapless gowns went out and sleeves suddenly came into vogue, all because of that one gown. But Savage unfortunately didn’t reap many benefits from this herself...

In 2020 it transpired that Savage’s business had been dealt a massive blow in the wake of the pandemic. With so much of the arts industry temporarily closing down, suddenly Savage was no longer being commissioned for work. She had to shut down her studio and move everything into her mother’s garage.

Needless to say, Savage was heartbroken about this. She told local newspaper The Bristol Post, “One big bill and we are done for. We are on the brink and one unexpected bill would be all it took.” Luckily though there was some help available. A compassionate stranger read her story and started a GoFundMe for her.

And Savage remains hopeful. She told People in December 2020, “If and when we change monarchs we will have to make a coronation robe for whoever is next.” Of course that may not be for a while, but hopefully there will be more opportunities for her before then, both royal and otherwise.