2 days ago
I'm being booted out of our £4m home in 10 days… but I REFUSE to leave, says Harry Potter star Leslie Phillips' widow
CARRY ON star Leslie Phillips' widow is being ordered to leave the home they shared throughout their married life.
Zara Phillips has been warned by lawyers that if she does not vacate by August 7, they will go to court to get her out.
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But Zara, 69, insists: 'I am not going.'
After Leslie, who voiced The Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter films, died two and a half years ago aged 98, the contents of his will remained private.
But when his last wishes were made public in 2024, it became clear that Leslie' s will had been changed during the Covid crisis.
The new will, approved in the Court of Protection, was substantially different to the one drawn up by Leslie the day before the couple married in December 2013.
In 2014 Leslie suffered a massive stroke, and Zara quit work and looked after him until his death in November 2022.
Leslie's first will had allowed Zara, his third wife and 36 years his junior, to stay in his £4million West London home for the rest of her life.
But former air stewardess Zara discovered that a new will states the property must be sold and the proceeds put into a trust fund to be divided between her and Leslie's two sons and two daughters from his first marriage to actress Penelope Bartley.
The new will, drawn up in November 2020, insists Zara has to be out of the five-bed property next month.
According to a legal letter seen by The Sun, if she refuses to go, lawyers will apply to the courts for possession.
Fighting back tears Zara says: 'Where would I go? I am in ill-health, old and frail, not well enough to move and I am still grieving.'
She adds: 'Leslie would not have wanted me to be thrown onto the street. I had known him for nearly 30 years.
'They told me that if I do go to court, they will deduct the money from my inheritance.
'The court can bring the bailiffs to throw me out but I won't go.
The executors said, 'We know you looked after Leslie very well 24/7. That's the reason we're giving you money'.
'I found it very disrespectful. A wife doesn't charge her husband for looking after him when he is ill.'
In a showbiz career lasting eight decades, Leslie appeared in more than 200 movies as well as hit TV series and on stage around the world.
He was best known for his catchphrases 'Ding Dong', 'Well, Hellooo' and 'I Say' from appearing in 'Carry On' movies, delivered in rich dulcet tones.
He wooed a new generation of fans as the voice of The Sorting Hat in Harry Potter movies, and also appeared with Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider as well as Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun and in Out of Africa with Robert Redford.
Leslie's personal life was plagued by tragedy.
His first wife Penelope died in a house fire in 1981, while Leslie was in Australia.
The following year he married Bond girl Angela Scoular, who killed herself in 2011 with a lethal cocktail of drugs and alcohol after suffering terminal bowel cancer.
Zara, a friend for more than 20 years, helped Leslie come to terms with Angela's death.
They fell in love and married in December 2013.
The actor's estate is valued at over £5million, including the house, which he bought in the 1960s at the height of his fame.
When Covid shut down the country in 2020, Zara protected Leslie from the effects of the pandemic.
But at that time Leslie changed the will, giving Zara just two years nine months after his death to vacate the house.
Zara says: 'I was very vulnerable that time. The country was in the grip of the Covid crisis.
'I was the main carer for Leslie, who was disabled. His will was not my priority at that time.
'I was younger than him and I was devoted and committed. He was my main priority. I loved him with all my heart. I did what I had to do and put Leslie first.'
A spokesman for the executors of Leslie's will says: 'I confirm that the administration of Leslie Phillips' estate is ongoing in accordance with a Will approved by the Court of Protection.
'It would not be appropriate for me to comment further for reasons of confidentiality.'
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