Dame Maggie Smith left £16million fortune to her two sons

Dame Maggie Smith left a fortune of almost £16 million to her two actor sons following her death.

Newly published probate records reveal how the Harry Potter and Downton Abbey star divided her estate after the double Oscar winner died aged 89 at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London in September 2024, surrounded by friends and family.

Probate records published nearly two years later, which have been revealed by The Sun, show Maggie left a net estate valued at £15,977,325, with the bulk divided equally between her sons Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens.

Her total estate was valued at £16,003,613 before debts and expenses of just over £26,000 were deducted.

Maggie also left Douglas Lake Farm, her five-bedroom farmhouse in Fittleworth, West Sussex, to a family trust she established with Chris and Toby in 2019.

The secluded property, where Maggie raised her sons and lived for more than four decades, includes barns, a stable and a vineyard.

Maggie’s will also made separate provisions for copyrights, royalties and unpublished works she inherited from her second husband, playwright Beverley Cross, who died aged 66 in 1998.

Those proceeds are to be divided equally between Beverley’s daughter Philippa Maughan, his son Shaun Cross and Maggie’s sons Chris and Toby.

Maggie had signed the will in 1996, when Beverley was still alive and named as its principal beneficiary.

The actress had previously been married to actor Robert Stephens, the father of Chris and Toby.

Maggie’s fortune followed an extraordinary career across theater, television and film which brought her two Academy Awards, seven Baftas, four Emmys, three Golden Globes and a Tony Award.

She won her first Oscar for playing the formidable Edinburgh schoolteacher Jean Brodie in 1969’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, before receiving her second Academy Award for California Suite.

Her other celebrated films included A Room with a View, Gosford Park, The Lady in the Van and Sister Act.

For younger audiences, Maggie became synonymous with Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, appearing alongside Daniel Radcliffe as the Hogwarts professor and head of Gryffindor House.