Sadly, Queen Elizabeth II died last September 8 at the age of 96, of which 70 years she was at the head of the British crown, only two months after her Platinum Jubilee. According to an official statement “the Queen passed away peacefully”.
However, just days after her death, there is already talk about who will inherit Queen Elizabeth II’s jewels? It is speculated that the monarch would have made several changes in her will, and that she had excluded a couple of family members, while others would have inherited most of her assets, including necklaces, rings and earrings.
Who will inherit the Queen’s jewelry?
It is estimated that the Queen owns a jewelry collection worth more than 130 million dollars. Some portals have echoed that the jewels will have a new owner, and that it will be Kate Middleton, Prince William‘s wife.
Although that’s not all, since part of the collection will also go to Princess Charlotte, Kate and William’s daughter. Apparently the will does not include Lilibet Diana, the daughter of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle who was named in honor of the Queen and Diana, Princess of Wales.
Specifically, Queen Elizabeth II would have left her jewelry, a total of 300 pieces to Kate and her granddaughter Charlotte, leaving Meghan Markle and Lilibet out.
Windsor collection and private collection
It should be noted, that some of Queen Elizabeth II’s jewels were part of the Windsor collection, of the Crown Jewels, which is passed down from generation to generation. But she also had her own private collection. The latter is the one that could be divided among several members of the royal family.
Most of Queen Elizabeth II’s items are held in trust to the British throne, and her firstborn son has acceded to them as King Charles III.
Jewelry expert Lauren Kiehna of The Court Jeweller, does not believe that individual pieces are given to various members of the royal family.
“We don’t know every detail about the ownership of all of the royal jewels, and it’s likely that we won’t be privy to much detailed information about their inheritance now,” Kiehna told Page Six Style. “Royal wills are sealed, so we can’t look to those documents for guidance.”
The expert believes the queen “may have bequeathed all her jewels directly to the new monarch, King Charles III.” Thus, following the tradition of her grandmother, Queen Mary, and her mother, Queen Elizabeth.
It should be noted that any member who takes possession of the jewels of Queen Elizabeth II will have to pay the tax. The only one exempt from paying is King Charles III.
What Queen Elizabeth II did was to offer the pieces in her collection as long-term loans to members of the family. Kiehna anticipates that King Charles III “will likely follow the same pattern, loaning various items to different family members, but retaining them as a single collection.”