England and Wales High Court (Family Division) Decisions

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
FAMILY DIVISION
(In open court)

		Royal Courts of Justice Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
		14 March 2017

This judgment was handed down in open court

Sir James Munby, President of the Family Division :

1. I have before me, as President of the Family Division, an application by Malika Benmusa dated 6 March 2017 and received by the court on 9 March 2017.
2. The application was made on a Form N244. In answer to question 3 on the Form, What order are you asking the court to make and why? the applicant has said "To apply to unseal the will of the late Princess Margaret." In answer to question 5, How do you want this application dealt with? she has placed a v against the words "without a hearing." In answer to question 10, What information will you be relying on, in support of your application she has placed a v against the words "the evidence set out in the box below." That reads as follows (I set out the manuscript exactly):

"My name was changed as a child as my date of birth, I belive around the age between 3 to 4 years old. My mother did not consent to this, but later on found out. I belive that both names are in the will. And it is explained. My father was in charge of my mother will, but failed to give me what is rightfully mine. So I belive this has been taken out of his hands and put back to the president of the Family Division (Sir James Munby.)"

Below that the applicant has signed the usual statement of truth.

3. The practice in relation to the sealing of royal wills, and the actual events surrounding the sealing of the will of HRH Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, who died on 9 February 2002, were explained by the then President, Sir Mark Potter P, in Brown v HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and others [2007] EWHC 1607 (Fam), [2007] WTLR 1129, paras 6-10, and, on appeal, by Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers CJ, giving the judgment of the Court of Appeal, in Brown v Executors of the Estate of HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and others [2008] EWCA Civ 56, [2008] 1 WLR 2327, paras 4-8. The circumstances in which a royal will might be unsealed, and the process by which and the persons by whom such an application might be made, were considered by the Court of Appeal in Brown, paras 35-48.
4. The will of HRH Princess Margaret is contained in a sealed envelope which bears the following inscription:

"HRH PRINCESS MARGARET

(ORIGINAL WILL)

SEALED PURSUANT TO THE ORDER DATED 19^th JUNE 2002

NOT TO BE OPENED WITHOUT LEAVE OF THE PRESIDENT"

I have personally examined the envelope, but I have not opened it. I have not read the will of HRH Princess Margaret nor do I have any idea as to its contents.

5. I have no hesitation in concluding that I should strike out the applicant's claim. My reasons for doing so are shortly stated. The applicant has not articulated any intelligible basis for her claim. The facts alleged by the applicant neither assert nor identify in any intelligible way either any link with HRH Princess Margaret or any link with her will. The applicant has not identified the grounds or the source or sources of the various beliefs upon which she relies. In short, her application is hopelessly defective.
6. The application is, accordingly, struck out.