Sir Donald Gosling leaves 50 million pounds in his will for new royal yacht

It's great to have wealthy friends. A friend of the British royal family, namely Sir Donald Gosling, has left the royals the sum of 50 million UK pounds to replace the royal yacht Britannia. The royals have been without a yacht since 1997 when the government of the time axed it due to spending cuts. Click here to read more about this story from tatler.com.

It's not clear to me from reading this article or others that I found on the topic exactly who was left this gift. I don't know whether it was left to a particular person, group of individuals, or to the Crown itself. "The Crown" is a legal entity in itself.

It's not surprising that Sir Donald was generous in his will, as apparently he gave about 100 million UK pounds to charities during his lifetime.

If you, too, would like to ensure that specific friends of yours do not go without certain items, whether those items are yachts or more modest effects, you must include such gifts in your will. If you pass away without a will, your friends are not included in the list of people who may inherit something from you. If it's important to you that a friend receive some money or an item, make sure you address it in your will.

If you would like to benefit a charity on your death, you must make a will. Verbally telling your family members that you would like to leave something to your favourite charity is not enough. Your executor has to do what's in the will, so if the gift to charity is not included, it can't be done. In Sir Donald's will, he expressed a specific purpose for the money he left behind. You can do this as well, and this is commonly done when gifts are left to charities.

The attached photo of Sir Donald Gosling with her majesty, Queen Elizabeth, accompanied the article in Tatler.com and is credited to Getty Images.