Lady Lucan’s revenge: children cut out of will
LORD LUCAN’S tragic widow cut her three children out of her will and left all of her possessions to the homeless charity Shelter, I can reveal.
Veronica, the Dowager Countess of Lucan, who was found dead at her Belgravia home last September, was estranged from her son George and daughters Frances and Camilla.
‘Mummy left her estate to the homeless charity, Shelter,’ Camilla, a QC, told me.
She attended her mother’s inquest last week during which it was revealed she had killed herself with a cocktail of drink and drugs after wrongly believing she was suffering from Parkinson’s disease. In her later years, Lady Lucan became a rather tragic and lonely figure. Some say she never really recovered from her husband’s disappearance in 1974. He vanished after bludgeoning his children’s nanny to death.
Socialite and author Basia Briggs, who met Lady Lucan every fortnight in her final years, said it was a relief that she left everything to charity rather than the ‘unsavoury characters’ who would swarm around her.
‘I used to have tea with her every other week at The Goring hotel in London, and she always had a lot of unsavoury characters attending with her, trying to take advantage,’ said Basia.
‘Veronica was terribly vulnerable and fell for men who promised her things and then let her down when they realised she didn’t have much money. It was all so terribly sad.’ For 40 years Lady Lucan was the subject of countless stories and documentaries as the search for her husband rumbled on. In 1999, Lord Lucan was officially declared dead by the High Court, but a death certificate was not granted until 2016, allowing George to become the 8th Earl of Lucan. Lady Lucan’s possessions are expected to include a large oil portrait of her husband, as well as some unusual personal effects including a personalised top hat. An auction will take place in Oxfordshire next month. It is not known why Shelter was chosen by Lady Lucan, who died in a grand, albeit dilapidated, property in Belgravia. Shelter said: ‘The proceeds will help us to continue fighting bad housing and homelessness.’