Philippa Seilern was my first cousin (p.5), and I was also her closest living relative. She died of kidney failure on January 17, 2018, two days after being admitted to the hospital in Lagos, Portugal. The following day I received a call from Eden Nylen, the family housekeeper in Monte Carlo, who informed me of her death.

The call itself was surprising; I had not seen Philippa in more than thirty years. But Eden’s explanation was even more unexpected. The following excerpt is from her deposition (p.24):

“Miss Philippa called me from Lagos before her hip operation in April 2017 with the following instructions: if something were to happen to her, I should contact Mr. Peter Seilern Senior (PS Sr.) in Switzerland.

I asked Miss Philippa for his number, and she told me to find it in the family register. When I located it, I asked whether it was correct, since it was in Switzerland, and she confirmed with yes.

I then asked her why she was giving me these instructions. Her reply was, ‘Just in case something happens to me.’

I asked, ‘How about I tell your cousin?’ (meaning Boy who lives in Monte Carlo), and Philippa replied, ‘Do not tell anyone from my Monaco family.’

Her Monte Carlo driver, Danny Cabellon, was beside me at the time and witnessed the call.”

That Philippa had instructed her housekeeper to contact only me suggested that, in some way, she may have wanted my help.

I flew to Lagos the next day. Apart from signing paperwork at the mortuary, visiting her house, and meeting both housekeepers (from Monte Carlo and Lagos), there was little I could do. When I asked Jinny Harman—the English woman who managed Philippa’s affairs in Lagos—who legally owned the house, she replied bluntly: “I have been instructed not to provide you with that information.”

Who had given those instructions? Why the secrecy? Nothing about this was normal.

In the months that followed, further inconsistencies emerged:   indications that the handling of Philippa’s estate was not being handled according to her wishes.