A £5m estate, but £2,500 is all Heath's housekeeper gets

As the son of a carpenter and a maid, Edward Heath was known for his modest beginnings. Despite being worth £5m when he died, it seems thrift remained high on his agenda after he rewarded one of his most loyal employees with a legacy of £2,500 - or 0.05 per cent of his fortune.

The former prime minister, who died last July aged 89, is understood to have had no living blood relatives to whom he could leave his fortune, believed to be the largest sum left by a modern premier.

But any largesse did not extend to those who remained close to Sir Edward at the end of his life after it emerged yesterday that he had left £2,500 to Teo Lopez, his long-standing housekeeper at his Belgravia house in London.

The bequest was to one of only two living individuals who benefitted from Sir Edward's will. A further £20,000 was left to Muriel Heath, his brother's widow.

The remainder of the £5,410,364 estate will go to a foundation set up to safeguard perhaps the last great love of Sir Edward's life - his 18th century house next to Salisbury Cathedral - and his political legacy.

The property, Arundells, was bought by Sir Edward in 1985 and will serve as a museum to the former prime minister, whose main achievement was taking Britain into the European Economic Community.

The will states that the key duty of the new charity will be "the preservation and conservation of Arundells and its associated amenities as a building of both special architectural and historical interest, being the home of Sir Edward Heath".

Mrs Lopez will not even receive the money in the will - because she was not employed by Sir Edward when he died. His Belgravia home was sold in 2004 when he was no longer able to make regular visits to London.

The will, drawn up in 2002, made it clear that the housekeeper, who is understood to have worked for Sir Edward for at least a decade, would only receive the payment if she were still in his employment at the time of his death.

A source said: "The money cannot go to Mrs Lopez under the terms of the will but Sir Edward made a generous gift to her when the London house was sold two years ago."

Born in the Kent seaside town of Broadstairs, Sir Edward, nicknamed the Grocer, was the first Tory prime minister to come from humble beginnings.

His progress to Balliol College, Oxford, as a young man was only possible because his considerable musical talents won him an organ scholarship which supported him financially.

But despite financial hardship in youth, Sir Edward, who was a bachelor until his death, proved an astute investor. The bulk of his fortune was amassed through merchant banking investments and earnings from writing. A keen yachtsman, he once complained of the cost of the sport, saying: "Ocean racing is like standing under a cold shower tearing up £5 notes."

Among Sir Edward's better deals was the purchase of Arundells itself. He bought the remaining lease on the property, which dates back to the 13th century, in 1985 for £100,000. He then bought the freehold in 1993 from the dean and chapter for a reported £250,000.

The Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation will be in charge of opening up Arundells to visitors wishing to consult Sir Edward's papers or view his art collection. Friends said that the politician had been keen for the house to form his legacy. Robert Key, the Tory MP for Salisbury, said: "Ted loved the place. It was the first home he had ever owned outright and it became the centre of his life."