Background
Diana Frances Spencer was born on 1 July 1961 and married Charles, then Prince of Wales, in 1981. The marriage was dissolved in August 1996. She died on 31 August 1997. Unusually for a royal figure, the essentials of her finances are documented rather than estimated, because her will was admitted to probate and published in full. CNN, full text of the will
Where the Money Came From
Diana had no significant independent fortune before her divorce. The settlement finalised in 1996 is the single source of almost all of it: a lump sum widely reported at around £17 million, together with an annual allowance of roughly £400,000 to run her private office. She received no continuing income from the Duchy of Cornwall or the Sovereign Grant after the marriage ended.
Her will is dated 1 June 1993, with a codicil in 1996. Her mother, Frances Shand Kydd, and her sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, were named executors.
The Estate and the Variation Order
Probate put the estate at approximately £21 million gross, reduced to about £17 million after inheritance tax. The will placed the residue in trust for William and Harry.
In December 1997 the executors obtained a variation order from the court altering the timing her will had set: rather than taking their shares at 25, the princes would receive capital at 30, with income from the trust from 25. Forbes Each is reported to have received something over £10 million on turning 30, the growth reflecting investment returns across roughly fifteen years.
How the Estimate Is Calculated
The arithmetic. Start from the £21 million probate figure (Forbes), deduct inheritance tax to reach roughly £17 million, and split the residue between two beneficiaries after legacies. That produces something in the order of £8 million each at 1997 values, before any investment growth over the years the trust ran – which is consistent with the reported £10 million-plus each received later. This is a reconstruction from published probate figures rather than the trust accounts, which have never been made public.
It is worth separating two things that are often merged. The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund was a separate registered charity that raised and distributed money in her name; it was never part of her personal estate.
Estimated Net Worth
At her death in August 1997: approximately £21 million before tax, about £17 million after. Because probate is a matter of record, this is one of the few figures on this site that is documented rather than estimated.