Rolf Harris' estate, worth around £16million, has been mostly left to his personal assistant in a last minute change to his will.
The disgraced presenter, who died earlier this year, amassed a huge £16m fortune throughout his career in entertainment. Of this fortune, some £12m was given to his painting collection, before the Aussie was convicted and jailed for 12 sex offences on four female victims.
Before he died, Rolf had left the bulk of his worldly possessions to his only child, daughter Bindi. But a last minute alteration to his will meant that an extra beneficiary was added to the document – Harris' personal assistant Lisa Ratcliff.
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Ms Ratcliff was loyal to the Harris family, having worked for them for years. When Rolf passed away on May 10, Lisa deliberately did not register his death for almost two weeks to allow his daughter a chance to grieve and lay him to rest in private.
Following his death, it has been revealed that Lisa now has sole responsibility for Rolf's paintings, with Bindi taking the remainder of his estate. Speaking about his personal assistant, William Merritt – a close personal friend of the disgraced comedian – described her as "fiercely protective".
"She was fiercely protective of him and pretty much managed his entire life, from his carers to deciding to whom or whether he should give interviews, and taking him to his appointments," he said. "Bindi is a lovely woman but couldn’t manage the care of her mother and father herself and leant increasingly on Lisa."
Merritt added that Rolf had made Lisa the executor of his estate, putting her in charge of his paintings, which had been valued at £12m before his court battles and jail stint. Due to his convictions, it is expected that the value of the paintings would go down, but William defended his creative process, saying: "Rolf was up there with Hirst and Picasso."
Ms Ratcliff, aged 53, started working with the Harris family in 2000 when she was working for theatrical agent Jan Kennedy, who had been Rolf's manager. Since then, the pair have been close partners, working closely together to keep his estate in check as he went to prison for his crimes.
The remainder of Rolf's estate includes a $7m riverside mansion in Berkshire where his widow Alwen, 91, continues to live. Alwen, a former sculptress and actress, is requiring round the clock care, as she gravely suffers from Alzheimer's and uses a wheelchair.
Harris was freed from jail in 2017 after being convicted of a string of sex offences against children as young as eight. After he passed away, Rolf was cremated at a private ceremony near his home in Crowthorne.
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