The Avengers star Dame Diana Rigg has left £3million of her fortune to actress daughter Rachel Stirling – and a £5,000 gift to a beautician from her local nail salon.
After starring in The Avengers’ leather-clad Emma Peel and James Bond’s doomed lover In On her Majesty’s Secret Service, Dame Diana rose in fame in the 1960s/70s.
The British actress, Lady Olenna Tyrell, played the role of cutthroat matriarch Lady Olenna in HBO’s Game of Thrones. However, she admitted that she had never seen an episode of the show.
Rigg, who was described as a ‘flinty fearless, forceful, nature force’, died in September 2020 after a short battle against cancer.
Days before her death, she made a will that left the vast majority her fortune, including properties throughout France, to Rachael Stirling (44 years old).
The estate has been disclosed at a value of £3,368,886.
Rigg looking stunning as she poses on the pink floor before the opening ceremony at the Cannes Series Festival in March 2019
Rigg and her co star George Lazenby in the 1969 James Bond movie, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Dame Diana poses with Patrick Macnee as her co-star in The Avengers, a series that helped her rise to fame.
Rigg and Patrick Mcnee star in The Avengers, an original TV series that debuted in 1966.
Rachael’s father, an actor and ex-officio in the Scots Guards Archibald Stirling was Diana’s second husband.
Following in the footsteps and success of her mother, Ms Stirling is now an actress.
She has starred on numerous stage and screen plays, including Snow White and the Huntsman and Detectorists and Tipping the Velvet.
Ms Stirling was appointed executor of her mother along with Lady Sarah Keswick, the daughter of Earl of Dalhousie.
On top of the £3m fortune for her daughter, Dame Diana also left £280,500 to relatives and charities.
This included £50,000 to both Great Ormond Street Hospital and the St Christopher’s Hospice in south east London, as well as £20,000 to the Earl’s Court Youth Club.
Other financial gifts included £5,000 to ‘Jessica of the Nail Gallery at 300 Fulham Road, London’, and £500 to the Other Club – a dining society set up by Winston Churchill in 2011 which meets at the Savoy Hotel.
Dame Diana, who lived in Cornwall Gardens, west London, also asked that £500 from her will be used to ‘provide wine at the next gathering after my death and for me to be acknowledged in the menu but not toasted’.
She was born in Yorkshire and spent part of her childhood living in India. After training at the Royal Shakespeare Company, she began a career as an actor that included television, film, and stage.
She was nominated for Emmy, Tony, and Bafta awards. She is also a global celebrity for her role in Bond girl Tray di Vicenzo.
1994, Rigg was named a dame for her services to drama.
Rachael and she worked together on the 2014 BBC comedy series, The Detectorists. They played a mother/daughter in the show.
Ms Stirling paid tribute to her mother last year with a moving photo of the pair in their younger years.
She wrote, “My Beloved Beautiful Brave And Brilliant Mama.” Missing you already. X
Ms Stirling shared a touching picture of herself and Diana Rigg, in tribute to her Beloved Beautiful Brave & Brilliant Mama’.
The Nail Gallery at 300 Fulham Road, west London, where Dame Diana has left a £5,000 gift for a beautician named ‘Jessica’
Guy Garvey, Rachael Stirling, and Guy Garvey attended the European premiere of “Last Night in Soho” at the Royal Festival Hall in London, October 9
Jonathan Kent, the director of Dame Diana in Medea paid tribute to her. He said: ‘Her combination force of personality and beauty, courage, and sheer emotion power made her a great classic actress – one among an astonishing generation of British stage actors.
Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, Bond producers, remembered Dame Diana as the only woman to marry 007.
They stated that they were very sorry to hear about the passing of Diana Rigg, the legendary stage actress and screen actor who was beloved by Bond fans for her memorable portrayal of Tracy di Vicenzo in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. She was the only woman to marry James Bond.
“Our thoughts, love, and prayers are with her family at this time of sorrow.”