Rolf Harris dies aged 93
Rolf Harris has reportedly left the bulk of his estate to his only child Bindi and added his loyal personal assistant Lisa Ratcliff as executor to his will as his fortune has been revealed.
The artist, musician and TV personality died on May 10 earlier this year of neck cancer and “frailty of old age”.
The disgraced entertainer had accumulated a $30.8million (£16million) fortune including his paintings, which were valued at an estimated $22 million (£12 million) before his convictions and jailed for 12 sex offences on four female victims.
His other assets included his riverside mansion in Berkshire, as well as the proceeds from the sale of his businesses when he went to prison.
Harris is said to have added his loyal personal assistant Lisa Ratcliff as executor to his will in a last-minute decision before his death.
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Mr Harris’ friend William Merritt said of Mrs Ratcliff: “She was fiercely protective of him and pretty much managed his entire life, from his carers to deciding to whom or whether he should give interviews, and taking him to his appointments.
“Bindi is a lovely woman but couldn’t manage the care of her mother and father herself and leaned increasingly on Lisa,” he told Australian media.
“Rolf before his death made Lisa an executor to his estate and said he put Lisa in charge of his paintings – before his court convictions they were worth around £12 million ($A22m).”
“The paintings would have gone down in value since his convictions – some of them used to sell for up to £125,000 ($A240,000) or more apiece. Rolf was up there with Hirst and Picasso.”
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He added: “Before Rolf died Lisa was made an executor to his estate with Bindi and put in sole charge of his paintings which are in storage and were worth £12m ($A22m) before his convictions”.
Harris’s wife, former actress and sculptress Alwen, 91, is gravely ill with Alzheimer’s and uses a wheelchair.
Ms Ratcliff, 53, began working closely with Harris in 2000 and has also been organising carers for Harris’s wife, 91.
Harris was freed from jail in 2017 for a string of sex offences.
As well as becoming famous for his music, Harris became a popular television personality in the UK in the 1960s and 1970s thanks to his roles on The Rolf Harris Show, Rolf’s Cartoon Club and Animal Hospital.
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