Late Queen Elizabeth's will to be locked & sealed for over 30 sealed. Here's why

As part of UK's royal traditions, the will of UK's late Queen Elizabeth's will be sealed and locked for at least 90 years. The will of British monarchs are not revealed in open like ordinary British citizens.

The tradition of sealing the wills of deceased royals started in 1910 with Prince Francis of Teck. Since then, 30 more wills are kept safe in an undisclosed location in London, under the care of a judge.

Elizabeth's document will join those of her mother Elizabeth and sister Princess Margaret, who both died in 2002. Princess Margaret's will was the subject of a 2007 legal challenge by Robert Brown, who claimed to be the princess's illegitimate son and who wanted to see it in order to advance his claim. The courts rejected his belief as "irrational" and he was not given access.


As per the royal tradition, after the death of any senior royal, the executor of their will applies to the head of the London High Court's Family Division for the will to be sealed. Successive judges in that position have always agreed.

Those details were completely unknown to the wider world until the death of the Queen Elizabeth's husband, Prince Philip, in April 2021 when the application was filed to judge Andrew McFarlane to seal the will.

The judge ruled that the will should indeed be sealed, but decided to publish his ruling to give the public some understanding of what was going on and why.

"The degree of publicity that publication would be likely to attract would be very extensive and wholly contrary to the aim of maintaining the dignity of the Sovereign," he wrote, adding that this was necessary for the monarch to fulfil his or her constitutional role.

The judge revealed the existence of the safe containing the royal wills and that, as the current president of the Family Division, he was in charge of it even though he had no knowledge of the contents of the sealed documents.