The widow of a baronet who said governments failed to provide enough money for the sick has left part of her £2.5 million will to worthy causes.

Lady Alice Wheeler, who lived in the exclusive Marine Gate flats near Brighton Marina, also left some of her fortune to the Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare at Ringmer and the RSPCA.

The animal lover died on April 10 this year at the age of 94.

She came to Brighton after her husband, Sir Arthur Wheeler, died in 1964. The couple were married in 1938.

Lady Alice left estate valued at £2,578,043 net, part of which was her luxury flat. She left £20,000 each to the Cancer Research UK, the Raystede Centre, The Martlets Hospice, the RSPCA, the NSPCC, the Brighton Society for the Blind the National Osteoporosis Society and £5,000 to the Abbeyfield Society, which provides residential care services.

The rest of the estate goes to the Wheeler family.

Lady Alice was a well-known character in Kemp Town, where she had many friends and was a regular communicant at St Mary's Church in St James's Street.

The former vicar of St Mary's, Canon John Lloyd-James said: "She was a remarkable woman who was a canny Scot and knew exactly what she wanted.

"She would treat everyone as an equal and would take a great interest in their families. I am not in the least surprised she has left more than £2.5 million. Although she lived in a small flat, she was always very well-dressed.

"Often she would talk about the way governments were not distributing money as they should so it is not surprising she has decided to distribute her wealth in this way.

"She always took a lot of interest in the work of The Martlets where my wife, Ann, works as a sister.

"She had a very good sense of humour."