Dame Maggie Smith left an estate worth around £16 million to her two sons, actors Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens, following her death at the age of 89 in September 2024, according to probate records and a report by the Daily Mail.The legendary Harry Potter and Downton Abbey actress died peacefully at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on September 27, 2024, with her family and friends by her side. Almost two years after her death, details of her final will have shed light on the fortune she accumulated during her seven-decade career.
Maggie Smith’s £16 million estate
Dame Maggie Smith’s £16m fortune was left largely to her two sons, with her secluded Sussex farmhouse placed in a family trust.
Publicly available probate records show that Dame Maggie’s estate was valued at £16,003,613, with the net estate reported at around £15.98 million after liabilities.The bulk of her fortune was left to her two sons, Christopher Stephens, who works professionally as Chris Larkin, and Toby Stephens. The two brothers are both actors and were born during Maggie’s first marriage to actor Robert Stephens.Her will also named her late second husband, playwright and screenwriter Beverley Cross, and her two sons as executors.Maggie Smith originally made her will on September 20, 1996. She later amended it in December 2019.
Her Sussex farmhouse goes to family trust
Dame Maggie Smith’s secluded Sussex farmhouse, where the late Harry Potter star lived for more than four decades. The Grade II-listed property features a vineyard, stable and barns.
One of the most valuable assets associated with the actress was her Grade II-listed farmhouse in West Sussex, where she lived for more than four decades.The secluded five-bedroom property, located near Fittleworth on the South Downs, includes a vineyard, stable and barns. Rather than leaving the property directly to her sons, Smith placed it in a family trust established with Chris and Toby in 2019.The country home was where the actress raised her children and spent much of her private life away from the spotlight.A clause in her will also stated that if she inherited anything from Beverley Cross that remained at the time of her death, including copyrights and royalties from his published work, those assets would pass to his children, Philippa and Shaun.
A private life away from Hollywood
Despite becoming one of Britain’s most celebrated actresses, Maggie Smith was famously private about her personal life.Her sons announced her death in September 2024, saying she had died peacefully in hospital and thanking the medical staff who cared for her during her final days.The statement also revealed that she left behind five grandchildren, who were “devastated” by the loss of their mother and grandmother.Smith was known for maintaining an independent lifestyle despite her fame. She avoided much of the celebrity culture surrounding awards ceremonies and rarely discussed her personal life publicly.
Two Oscars and a seven-decade career
Maggie Smith’s fortune was accumulated during an extraordinary career spanning theatre, television and film.She won her first Academy Award for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969 and her second for California Suite in 1978. She received a total of six Oscar nominations during her career.Her other nominations came for Othello, Travels with My Aunt, A Room with a View and Gosford Park.For a younger generation of audiences, however, Smith became particularly beloved for playing Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter franchise. She also earned widespread acclaim as Violet Crawley, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, in Downton Abbey.Her final film role was in The Miracle Club, released in 2023, alongside Kathy Bates and Laura Linney.