Dame Maggie Smith left her estate, valued at £15,977,325, to her two sons, actors Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin, according to probate records seen by The Sun. The late star, who died in 2024 at age 89, also placed her West Sussex farmhouse, Douglas Lake Farm at Fittleworth, into a family trust established with her sons in 2019. The estate value has already been reduced by £26,000 for debts and expenses.
Chris Larkin: The elder son
Chris, 58, is Maggie's eldest son from her marriage to actor Robert Stephens. After training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, he built a career in television with roles in The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Hitler: The Rise of Evil, and episodes of Doctors, Black Sails, and Outlander. He is married to Suki Stephens and has children, though little is known about his family life.
Speaking about his career, Chris told Broadway.com: "I got into acting comparatively late, funnily enough, and only enrolled at LAMDA when I was 22 or 23. Toby is younger than I am but was the year ahead of me at drama school, and I remember mum being rather arch and saying to me, 'Oh, I rather thought you might give acting a go.' Before that, I had worked stage crews and the like: I remember catching the chandelier on the first night of The Phantom of the Opera in 1986."
Toby Stephens: The younger son
Toby, 57, is best known for roles in Die Another Day, Black Sails, Jane Eyre, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story. He has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company and earned awards for his stage work. He is married to New Zealand-born actress Anna-Louise Plowman, with whom he shares three children.
Reflecting on his mother's legacy in an interview with The Times, Toby said: "Obviously, I knew that she was extraordinary, but the response [to her death] was incredibly moving. And the thing that really got me was: it's very rare to have actors that everyone likes. And she had spent her life not thinking of herself like that, which is very winning." He added: "A whole generation just knew Professor McGonagall from Harry Potter and the old trout from Downton. And for them to see people talking about this amazing body of work, to see photos of her when she was so young and so beautiful, to see pictures of her from the Sixties when she was at the height of her theatrical career … that was really moving."
