The fugitive 7th Earl of Lucan’s wife, Veronica, refused to speak to her three children for more than 35 years
The fugitive 7th Earl of Lucan’s wife, Veronica, refused to speak to her three children for more than 35 years.
Now, she has delivered her withering verdict on them from beyond the grave.
I can disclose that the Dowager Countess of Lucan, who died from a cocktail of drink and drugs last September after incorrectly diagnosing herself with Parkinson’s disease, has explained in her will why she refused to leave a penny of her £576,626 estate to her son, George, the 8th Earl of Lucan, or to his sisters, Lady Camilla Bloch, QC, and Lady Frances Bingham.
‘In view of the lack of good manners and reverence shown to me as their parent, I do not wish any of my three children to benefit from my death any more than they have to,’ she declared in the document, which has been released by the probate office.
Lady Lucan told me in 2015 that her son had bartered ‘the accidental privilege of his birth’ by abandoning her to live with his aunt and uncle.
She accused George — who was seven when his nanny, Sandra Rivett, 29, was beaten to death with a lead pipe at the family’s townhouse — of withholding important belongings from her.
George and his sisters lived with their mother in Belgravia following Lucan’s disappearance in 1974. Veronica was hurt in the attack and her husband was named as the murderer at Rivett’s inquest. Custody was transferred to Veronica’s sister, Christina Shand Kydd and her husband, Bill, eight years later after Lady Lucan reportedly became mentally ill.
George, who married Anne-Sofie Foghsgaard, the daughter of a wealthy Danish industrialist, in 2016, said: ‘I applaud the decision.’
This pictured taken on Wednesday shows Lord Lucan’s son George Bingham after it was reported that Lady Lucan has left her estate to charity and cut her children out of her will
However, Veronica told me: ‘I did not suffer a mental breakdown. Custody of my children was transferred to the Shand Kydds because my son declared in an affidavit that he would find it much more congenial to live as part of the family of his aunt and uncle.’
George said he had no alternative as he was only 14 and had to move, under the direction of his guardian-in-law, the Official Solicitor.
Veronica left her entire estate to the homelessness charity Shelter. George, who married Anne-Sofie Foghsgaard, the daughter of a wealthy Danish industrialist, in 2016, said: ‘I applaud the decision.’
The size of her fortune will leave Lady Lucan’s friends bewildered as she did not own her mews house and lived in such squalor that the lavatory didn’t flush properly and her wallpaper was peeling. She said she needed the £50,000 she hoped to earn from her memoirs to buy a new kitchen.
Lady Lucan did not give a penny of her £576,626 estate to her son, George, the 8th Earl of Lucan
Lady Lucan (left) took her own life with a lethal cocktail of drink and drugs after diagnosing herself