Foreign News: Newly Poor

As wife of an admiral who is also cousin to the King, handsome Lady Mountbatten cuts a dashing figure and runs a big house. She has never lacked cash; as granddaughter of Banker Sir Ernest Cassel, she is the life beneficiary of a £1,406,250 (about $5,600,000) trust fund. Last week her solicitors let it be known that Lady Mountbatten was broke and would shortly ask the House of Lords to pass a bill permitting her to break Sir Ernest’s trust.

Like others among Britain’s newly poor, Lady Mountbatten is a victim of crushing taxes, which each year take £65,000 ($260,000) of the £70,000 ($280,000) she receives. But what really did her in was last year’s “capital contribution,” which raised her tax bill to £100,000 ($400,000)—£30,000 ($120,000) more than she took in. Unless the Lords permitted her to dip into capital or borrow on future income, Lady Mountbatten would become a tax delinquent.