[5][6] In 2020 it was revealed in court documents that the anonymous benefactor who had bequeathed the original endowment was Gaspard Farrer, a former partner at the now-defunct Barings Bank.
"[12] Court intervention is required because, under the terms of the fund, its value must be left to accumulate until such time as it is sufficient to pay off the National Debt in full.
Indeed, in 2018 the UK Government, through a ministerial answer to a written parliamentary question, stated that, according to expert evidence, "there is no realistic prospect of the Fund ever amounting to a sum sufficient to pay off the whole of the National Debt.
[16] On 21 January 2022 the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice handed down its judgment in H.M. Attorney General -v- Zedra Fiduciary Services (UK) Limited.
Applying the cy-pres doctrine and considering competing cy-pres schemes from the Attorney General and from Zedra (the current trustees of the Fund), the court approved a scheme proposed by the Attorney General for England and Wales to amend the underlying trust deed to permit the balance of the Fund to be applied against the UK national debt.