LEGACY RENOUNCED

Southland Times, Issue 20042, 2 December 1926, Page 11

LEGACY RENOUNCED

£6OOO A YEAR GIVEN UP.

DUKE OF ORLEANS’ BEQUEST.

It is announced in the London papers that Mrs Violette Jar rott—formerly Lady Rosslyn—of Oak Lea, Wimbledon, has renounced the life annuity of £6OOO which, as recently reported, was bequeathed to her by the Duke of Orleans, who was described as “the uncrowned King of France.” The Duke, a claimant to the throne of France, died in Sicily last March. He left unsettled property in England valued at £96,720. Investigations into his affairs since his death have shown that his estates in Belgium and Italy were negligible compared with what his associates believed them to be. In fact, he died a comparatively poor man. In his will he made generous bequests to a number of relatives and friends, many of them possessing very small resources. If Mrs Jarrott, who is a wealthy woman, had wished to be a beneficiary under the will her legacy would have eaten up the bulk of the estate. It was stated that the capital cost of providing the £6OOO annuity would have amounted to approximately £85,000. In the circumstances Mrs Jarrott considered that the other legatees stood in greater need than she, and decided to present her legacy to the estate.

A friend of Mrs Jarrott has stated that her legacy was a gift of gratitude to her for nursing the Duke through a nervous breakdown some years ago. Mrs Jarrott attached a condition to her gift that the maintenance of the Duke’s natural history museum bequeathed to the French nation should be properly provided for. “This,” said her friend, “was because she, equally with the Duke, was keenly interested in the museum. She knew exactly what he would like done with it and the way it should be preserved, and has herself, at different times, discussed it with him.”