Princess Diana's aunt snubs half of her children in £426,000 will
Diana's aunt snubs two children in £426,000 will
Instagram@charles.earl.spencer
Princess Diana’s aunt, Mary Roche, did not include two of her four children in her £426,000 will.
Mary Roche, the older sister of Princess Diana’s mother, recently had her will published which showed that her two youngest twin daughters, Antonia and Jo, were left out of it.
Instead, her modest fortune is to be shared equally between her eldest daughter, Alexandra and her only son, Edward, according to the Mail.
Roche was affectionately described by her nephew as the Hon, as he described his aunt as “a free spirit, an intellectual and an adventurer.”
The Princess of Wales talks with her grandmother and aunt.
PA
The princess’s aunt attended the wedding of Charles and Diana in 1981 at Westminster Abbey but showed scepticism from the start.
She told the Mail: “Diana was young and had limited life experience, and Prince Charles was already a great thinker. He had a great deal.
“They were, perhaps, different people.”
Roche described her niece as “very natural and prone to giggles, a lot of fun.”
Earl Spencer posted pictures of his aunt on Instagram.
Instagram@charles.earl.spencer
Although Roche lived a lavish lifestyle, she did not leave a huge fortune. After taxes and other costs her total estate is estimated at £425,983.
But at one point in her life Mary owned an airplane that flew passengers around Kenya on Safari and once bought a house in Wilton Crescent, Belgravia that would sell today at more then £20 million.
Her two youngest daughters left out of the will live a modest lifestyle and until recently both lived in Frome Somerset.
It is estimated that Jo bought her property for £170,000 and Anya sold her house for £220,000 in 2020.
Mary Roche was Princess Diana's aunt.
Getty
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Mary Roche being held as a baby by nanny Chisholme surrounded by her family.
Instagram@charles.earl.spencer
Edward, Roche’s son, explained to the Mail: “My mother gave various things to my sisters at different times and, in the interests of fairness, that's how it ended up.”
Roche was the eldest of three children and born into a family with close ties to the Royal Family.
Her mother, Ruth, was lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and her father was in a shooting party with King George VI.
Roche married three times but had four children with Anthony Berry, the son of the onetime owner of The Daily Telegraph, The Times and The Sunday Times.
Last year, Roche’s death was reported in the Daily Telegraph stating: “The Hon Mary Cynthia Burke Roche, peacefully died at home on 3rd March, aged 88.”