Helen McCrory left her entire £850,000 estate to husband Damian Lewis

Actress Helen McCrory left her entire £850,000 estate to husband Damian Lewis when she died from breast cancer, according to her will which was revealed this week.

The Peaky Blinders and Harry Potter star died at the age of 52 in April last year after a private battle with cancer which she had revealed only to those closest to her.

She left behind Homeland star Lewis, her husband of 14 years, as well as two children - daughter, Manon, and son, Gulliver.

According to her will which is now publicly available, the actress put her entire fortune - valued at £857,257.12 - into trust for the benefit of her husband, their children, and any grandchildren in the future.

The will appoints Lewis as one of the trustees of the 125-year-long fund - along bankers Coutts - with the power to make payments out of the trust to himself and other beneficiaries.

McCrory, who was awarded an OBE in 2017 for services to drama, played the Shelby family matriarch Aunt Polly in five series of Peaky Blinders to critical acclaim.

She died during filming of the sixth and final series. The first episode - in which her character also died - was dedicated to her memory.

The star of stage and screen played Narcissa Malfoy in the final three films in the Harry Potter series, she appeared opposite Dame Judi Dench in Bond film Skyfall, and portrayed Cherie Blair in 2006 film The Queen.

McCrory and her husband helped to raise £1.5 million for the charity Feed NHS during the pandemic and she made a final TV appearance on Good Morning Britain in March last year to promote their work with the Prince’s Trust before her illness had been revealed.

Following her death, the National Theatre’s artistic director Rufus Norris said she was "unquestionably one of the great actors of her generation".

Emmy winner Lewis, 51, has said his late wife urged him to live life to the full after her death, revealing her instructions were to “live fully, take opportunities, have adventures”.

“She said to us from her bed: ‘I want Daddy to have girlfriends, lots of them, you must all love again, love isn’t possessive, but you know, Damian, try at least to get though the funeral without snogging someone’”, he said in April last year.

Recently, Lewis has begun dating The Kills singer, Alison Mosshart, 43, and was pictured with her at London club The House of KOKO’s summer party.