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Privacy Notice When he turns 40 on 15 September, the Duke of Sussex will inherit approximately £7 million from his great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. This money comes from a trust fund that King George VI’s widow set up for her great-grandchildren — including Princes William and Harry — worth £70 million, as reported in The Times. While it will surely come as a welcome boost, the issue surrounding the inheritance is being called a double-edged sword by a leading royal expert thanks to the Queen Mother’s dislike of family drama and her unique ability to ignore people she didn’t wish to interact with.
The Queen Mother and Prince Harry pictured in 1995
(Image: Getty)
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The Queen Mother is largely remembered as a stoic figure who was famous for her large feathered hats and floaty bodices – but many others have referred to her as an ‘iron first in a velvet glove’. Thanks to her aversion to family drama, she earned the nickname ‘the Imperial Ostrich’ owing to her canny ability to ‘stick her head in the sand’ when she didn’t wish to know something. It is this approach that former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond feels would make Harry’s acceptance of his late great-grandmother’s money as less than straight forward. “The Queen Mother loved her great grandchildren…and they adored her sense of humour,” Jennie exclusively tells OK! “She sometimes imitated Ali G, which William and Harry found hilarious. They had to taught her how to do the voice and actions and, after lunch one day, she stood up and said to her daughter, the Queen: “Darling, lunch was marvellous – respec.” “But I’m afraid the Queen Mother would have been mightily disappointed to see history repeating itself as Harry fell in love with a divorced American woman and then left royal life and went to live abroad… almost in exile, like her brother in law King Edward VIII, who abdicated for the love of Wallis Simpson.
Prince Harry is set to inherit £7 million when he turns 40
(Image: Getty Images)
The Queen Mother ignored his brother-in-law, King Edward VIII, after he abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson
(Image: Bettmann Archive)
“I think she would have been angry with Meghan for some of the things that she has said, and profoundly disappointed that Harry has publicly attacked his own family. But the money will obviously be extremely welcome for Harry and his family. They do have substantial living costs and their security bill is huge. “For most of us, an inheritance of several million pounds would be utterly life changing…. for Harry and Meghan, it will be a small bonus compared to their commercial earnings. Nevertheless, I’m sure it will be greatly appreciated by Harry who, I’m sure, has nothing but fond memories of his great grandmother… or Gan Gan as he called her.”
The Queen Mother was dubbed ‘the Imperial Ostrich’
(Image: Getty Images)
Thoughts that The Queen Mother would have strong feelings about the situation between the Royal Family and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has been spoken about before. Historian William Shawcross shared: “[The Queen Mother] wouldn’t acknowledge, let alone confront, disagreeableness within the family.” Meanwhile, Royal biographer Hugo Vickers expressed his belief that she would have been deeply troubled by Prince Harry and Meghan’s explosive Oprah interview. Speaking to The Sun, he said: “I think the Queen Mother would have been absolutely horrified in regards to Meghan and Harry’s interview with Oprah. Fundamentally a lot of things that were said in there that were not true and very easy to disprove. I’m sure she would be very unhappy. The Queen Mother was always someone who if she were unhappy or saw something she didn’t like she would just blank it out and just wouldn’t refer to it. It didn’t happen or the person didn’t exist. “This was the attitude towards the Duke and Duchess of Windsor – she just didn’t bother with them. They just didn’t exist to her at all. I think that’s how she would also feel about Meghan and Harry – they would be ignored, they would be blanked. You wouldn’t have been able to get much out of her about what she thought about them.”Story SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnPrince HarryHarry and MeghanMeghan MarkleRoyal FamilyQueen MotherDuke of WindsorQueen Elizabeth II
