A former Bishop of Horsham and close friend of Princess Margaret has left nearly £1m in his will.

The Right Reverend Simon Wilton Phipps, who died at the age of 79, lived in the village of Shipley, near Horsham.

He left £959,082 net, with most of the cash going to relatives.

The Rt Rev Phipps also left £100 to the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.

Probate was granted to his nephew, Charles Phipps, of Chelsea Cloisters in London.

A former old Etonian, the Rt Rev Phipps won the Military Cross in Italy during the Second World War while serving as a major in the Coldstream Guards.

A former honorary canon of Coventry Cathedral, he became Bishop of Horsham in 1968 at the age of 46.

He was godfather to Princess Margaret's son, Viscount Linley.

Educated at Trinity College and Westcott House, Cambridge, he was ordained as a deacon in 1950 and as a priest a year later.

From 1950 to 1953 the Rt Rev Phipps was curate of Huddersfield.

He married widow Mary Welch in 1973 and was appointed Bishop of Lincoln a year later.