An heiress in New York, who died leaving an estate worth an estimated £250 million, has left a legacy of around £21 million to her nurse, and nothing to her direct family, reports the Telegraph.

Miss Huguette Clark's family made their money in copper mining, and she inherited her fortune in 1927. Her nurse, Mrs Hadassah Peri, was assigned to care for Miss Clark by a nursing agency, and stayed with her for 20 years, until her death earlier this year.

Miss Clark, who had no children and lived a reclusive life, left the bulk of her fortune to establish an art foundation at her California estate. Her will specifically excluded her direct relatives from any inheritance because of the lack of contact she had had with them.