John Camden Neild was an eccentric who lived as a recluse in Chelsea. On his death in 1852 he left Queen Victoria almost the whole of his fortune – about £500,000 – even though he had never met her. Queen Victoria wrote to the King of the Belgians describing this as an ‘extraordinary but I must say very welcome & gratifying inheritance … satisfactory to see that people have that confidence that it will not be thrown away, & so it certainly will not be … The old Gentleman was a dreadful Miser, tho’ kind hearted & even generous, but he lived within a 100 a year, – & his clothes were all in rags! Still he was a man of great learning & even brilliant in conversation’. The Queen used the inheritance to ensure that Neild’s servants were taken care of, and restored the chancel of the church at North Marston in Buckinghamshire where Neild was buried and commissioned a window in his memory. The money also helped with the expenses of her visit to Paris in 1855, wedding costs for her children and the building of the Mausoleum at Frogmore.