Nazi hunter who left fortune to his third wife after cutting his children and grandchildren out of his will was not victim of 'undue influence', court rules

Daily Mail​

6 days ago

A Nazi hunter who cut his children and grandchildren out of his will and instead left his fortune to his third wife was not the victim of 'undue influence', a court has ruled.
Self-styled 'Lord' Peter Eden changed his will the year before his death aged 99 so that all his shares in his property company were left to 'Lady' Joy Eden, 85.
He had initially left a third of his 60 per cent holding in his property company to Joy and two thirds to his grandchildren, the offspring of his daughters from his third marriage.
But Eden re-wrote his will to leave all the company shares, reportedly worth an estimated £2million, to Joy, who he had been married to for 20 years.
His wife also inherited the £1.5million family home they shared in Hampstead, north London.
His grandchildren were left watches, a cousin was given £250,000 and his housekeeper was handed £25,000, The Times reported.
But Eden's daughters, Tamara Eden Goodchild and Vanita Eden, were cut out.
When Eden died in December 2020, his heirs ended up locked in a legal dispute that meant his estate could not be shared.
Ms Goodchild reportedly claimed that her father had been subjected to 'undue influence' and had lacked the mental capacity to write his will.
She argued that his original 2017 will was the one that should be enforced.
On Tuesday, the High Court in London approved a deal that will see Joy Eden receive 84 per cent of the shares of her husband's property company.
His daughters will get 4 per cent, Vanita's daughter will also get four per cent and Ms Goodshild's three children will share the same amount.
Judge Mr Justice Dray said Eden's 2019 will 'does not offend common sense'.
'The instructions of Lord Eden were clear, namely that he wanted his shares [in the property company] to pass to his wife absolutely.'
Germany-born Eden had fled his home country to Britain as a teenager after being arrested by the Gestapo for having a relationship with a non-Jewish girl.
When the Second World War began, he was interned along with thousands of others as an 'enemy alien ' and then sent to Australia for year.
At some point he began calling himself 'Lord', but had not been given any official title.
Eden was able to come to London in April 1939 because one of his uncles was a practising dental surgeon in the capital and had secured him a visa to leave Germany.
Before he was interned in May 1940, a took up a job in a welding factory.
Once in Australia, he enrolled in the army and then was sent back to England to join the Pioneer Corps in Ilfracombe, Devon.
He later served in North Africa and Palestine. After the war had ended, he was posted to Germany with the Intelligence Corps.
It was there that Eden was involved in helping to track down Nazis and had a role in the war crimes trial of 22 Germans accused of shooting British pilots.
In a 1998 interview with the Imperial War Museum, Eden spoke of finding people who had run concentration camps and identifying members of the SS.
He was demobilised in May 1947 and then launched into a career in the fashion industry.
In the 1960s he entered the hotel business, buying two near Hyde Park in London.
Eden later owned more than a dozen restaurants alongside his hotels.