''Son'' of Princess Margaret wins court appeal

LONDON, Oct 17 (Reuters) A Jersey accountant has been given leave to appeal against a ruling preventing him seeing secret Royal wills which he believes could prove he is the illegitimate son of the late Princess Margaret.

Robert Brown, 52, was told by three Appeal Court judges today that he could challenge a High Court ruling which barred him from viewing the wills of Margaret -- sister of Queen Elizabeth -- and the Queen Mother.

Mark Potter, president of the Family Division, said during a hearing in July that Brown's claim should be struck out as ''vexatious and an abuse of process''.

The bid to read the wills, he added, was made ''solely for the purpose of seeking to establish an imaginary and baseless claim''.

Brown argues the wills, which are barred from public inspection by a special exemption for the Royal family, may corroborate his belief that he is Princess Margaret's son.

He will now mount a full challenge after being told by Lord Justice Dyson that as a member of the public he had ''an arguable case'' for seeing the wills.

Both wills had been sealed on the orders of the previous Family Division President, Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss.

REUTERS PD RAI1840