Beneficiaries of Rolf Harris’ $22 million estate revealed

Despite spending his final years reclusive and disgraced, former entertainer Rolf Harris held onto a mass fortune. Here’s what is set to happen to his millions.

Disgraced entertainer Rolf Harris left the bulk of his estate to his only child Bindi until the convicted pedophile added his loyal personal assistant Lisa Ratcliff as executor to his will.

Ms Ratcliff has sole responsibility for his paintings, which were valued at an estimated $22 million (£12 million) before his convictions and jailing for 12 sex offences on four female victims.

Ms Ratcliff did not report Harris’s May 10 death to his local registrar in Windsor in South East England for 13 days so Bindi could grieve and secretly lay him to rest.

Veteran entertainer Rolf Harris arrives with daughter Bindi (left) and wife Alwen at Southwark Crown Court, London where he faces charges of alleged indecent assaults on under-age girls. Picture: Anthony Devlin/PA Images via Getty Images

“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,” Harris’s friend William Merritt said of Ms Ratcliff.

“Bindi is a lovely woman but couldn’t manage the care of her mother and father herself and leant increasingly on Lisa.

“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 a piece. Rolf was up there with Hirst and Picasso,” Mr Merritt said.

Before his death, Harris accumulated a $30.8 million fortune – including the $7 million Berkshire riverside mansion where his wife continues to live with 24-hour care.

The mansion, with its views of the Thames, is just a 10-minute drive from Windsor Castle, where the pre-downfall Harris unveiled his portrait of the late Queen in 2012.

While in prison, he pocketed a $1.8 million payout after the break-up of his business empire, Rolf Harris Enterprises, and accumulated royalties and other assets.

Harris’s wife, former actress and sculptress Alwen, 91, is gravely ill with Alzehimer’s and uses a wheelchair.

Private investigator William Merritt (left) with former Australian entertainer Rolf Harris in May 2022. Picture: Supplied

Ms Ratcliff, 53, began working closely with Harris in 2000 under then theatrical agent Jan Kennedy who managed him. She has also been organising Alwen’s carers for years.

“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,” said Mr Merritt, who became a close friend of the once-lauded national treasure.

His death certificate revealed he died of “metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of neck” – the medical term for neck cancer – and “frailty of old age”.

Rolf Harris property in Bray, England, where he died. Picture: Ella Pellegrini

The pedophile had been struggling to talk after cancerous tumours spread in his neck.

He was fed through a tube before his death and was seen in a wheelchair being taken for walks and medical appointments by Ms Ratcliff.

Harris was freed from jail in 2017 for a string of sex offences including children as young as eight.

He was cremated in an intimate ceremony organised by Miles and Daughters funeral directors near his home in Crowthorne in South East England.

He had become distressed in the last weeks of his life after his dog Bumble died and claims a new woman had come forward to allege Harris had molested her when she was a child.

Lisa Ratcliff, Jennie Harris and Harris’s lawyer Daniel Berke did not respond to requests for comment.

Originally published as Beneficiaries of Rolf Harris’ $22 million estate revealed