Probate records have revealed how the Downton Abbey and Harry Potter legend divided her multimillion-pound estate, property and inherited royalties following her death.
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Maggie’s will also made separate provisions for copyrights, royalties and unpublished works she inherited from her second husband, playwright Beverley Cross, who died aged 66 in 1998.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.
Robert died aged 64 in 1995.
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.
Following Maggie’s death, Daniel said: “I will always consider myself amazingly lucky to have been able to work with her, and to spend time around her on set. The word legend is overused but if it applies to anyone in our industry then it applies to her. Thank you Maggie.”
Maggie also found a new global television audience as the acid-tongued Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham, in Downton Abbey.
She played Violet throughout the ITV series and returned for the first two feature films, winning three Emmys for the role.
Her absence was subsequently felt in Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, released in 2025, in which Violet’s memory remained part of the story after the character’s death in the previous film.
Hugh Bonneville, who played Violet’s son Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham, paid tribute following Maggie’s death.
He said: “Anyone who ever shared a scene with Maggie will attest to her sharp eye, sharp wit and formidable talent.
“She was a true legend of her generation and thankfully will live on in so many magnificent screen performances.”
King Charles, 77, and Queen Camilla, 79, also issued a tribute, describing Maggie as a “national treasure”.
They said: “As the curtain comes down on a national treasure, we join all those around the world in remembering with the fondest admiration and affection her many great performances, and her warmth and wit that shone through both off and on the stage.”
Maggie’s sons announced her death in a statement through her publicist.
They said: “An intensely private person, she was with friends and family at the end.
“She leaves two sons and five loving grandchildren who are devastated by the loss of their extraordinary mother and grandmother.”
Despite the enormous popularity of Harry Potter and Downton Abbey, Maggie was characteristically understated about the two projects when discussing them in 2019.
She said: “It wasn’t what you’d call satisfying. I didn’t really feel I was acting.”
Maggie once summed up her decades-long career with equal brevity, saying: “One went to school, one wanted to act, one started to act and one’s still acting.”
Dame Maggie Smith left £16million fortune to her two sons
