Millionaire Duchess leaves just £5,000 to daughter – and £10,000 to her dogs
Frances, the Duchess of Rutland, died in January aged 86
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A millionaire duchess has left just £5,000 to her daughter in her will - half of the sum bestowed upon her surviving dogs.
Frances, the Duchess of Rutland, died in January aged 86, after having been dubbed “frosty” by her peers during her time in high society.
Her will reflected her aristocratic nature, adhering to long-established traditions about who her £5.6million estate may be bequeathed to.
Probate documents, as seen by the Daily Mail, have revealed that her only daughter, former rock and roll musician Lady Theresa, 61, has been left just £5,000.
Meanwhile, the majority of the fortune is to be held in a trust for her grandson and the family heir, Charles Manners, Marquess of Granby, 25.
Mr Manners is the eldest son of David, 11th Duke of Rutland, who upon being asked if he was surprised his mother did not share her fortune between his sister and brother, said: “Not at all.”
Many of Frances’ other grandchildren, including David’s own daughters Lady Violet Manners, Lady Alice and Lady Eliza were also left just £5,000.
These family members were bequeathed far less than one other unlikely major beneficiary - Frances’ dogs. The probate requests £10,000 is left to a Stephen Mellor, “together with any dog I may own at the date of my death”.
Other individual bequests include a sum of £2,000 to her head housemaid and another £1,000 to the widow of her former chauffeur.
Frances lived a notably less dramatic life than her mother Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, who became embroiled in society scandal during a disastrous divorce from her former husband, the 11th Duke of Argyll.
The separation was dramatised in the 2021 BBC programme, A Very British Scandal, and captured the attention of 1960s society in a Hollywood drama fashion.
Margaret found herself publicly shunned after her former husband alleged she had taken 88 lovers during their 12-year relationship, going so far as to reveal pictures of a naked man with Margaret.
She was deemed a “completely promiscuous woman” by the judge, Lord Wheatley, who said she had “started to indulge in disgusting sexual activities to gratify a debased sexual appetite”.
The public spectacle unfurled just five years into Frances’ own marriage to Charles Manners at the age of just 20, and it is said her “frosty” nickname was owed largely to her strained relationship with her mother.
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