Yes, the Royal Family is rich ... but how rich?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper stands with Queen Elizabeth  as she unveils a portrait of herself this week in the White Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace. The portrait was painted by Canadian artist Phil Richards, left. Governor General David Johnston looks on from right. (CP)

For all the castles and jewels and servants and jubilees, the Royal Family is really pretty ordinary -- at least as far as the billionaire class is concerned.

A study by Wealth-X, a consultancy firm with a focus on high net-worth people, showed that it took the combined monies of the top 14-earning royals to reach $1 billion. Half that total belongs to Queen Elizabeth, who is barely among the top 20 of Britain’s richest women.

So the royals don’t make the list of U.K. billionaires, which number 37, according to Forbes. The richest of the rich is Gerald Grosvenor -- aka the Duke of Westminster -- at about $11.2 billion. The Royal Family reality is that they are well down the richest lists, yet remain, for better or worse, an iconic symbol of wealth and high society.

Mykolas D. Rambus, CEO of Wealth-X, connects the dots:  “The fact that the combined wealth of the top 14 members only reached $1 billion (U.S.) reflects what has been suspected for some time: that new wealth is overtaking old wealth in Britain.”

True enough, but even the old royals are still doing quite well, thank you. And there’s money in those young royals too.

The Wealth-X numbers do not yet take in the $16 million that William (right photo) will be inheriting on June 21, when he turns 30. That money comes from the estate of his mother, the late Princess Diana. No word on how he intends to spend that dough, though some house hunting is rumoured.

Okay, enough suspense. Here are the top 14 royals money-wise, according to Wealth-X, with their spot in the the line of succession in brackets:

Queen Elizabeth: $510 million

Prince Charles (1): $210 million

Prince Andrew (4): $75 million

Prince Edward (7): $45 million

Princess Anne (10): $30 million

Prince Richard (19- Queen’s cousin): $25 million

Zara Phillips (14- Princess Anne’s daughter): $20 million

Prince William (2): $19 million

Peter Phillips (11- Princess Anne’s son)): $18 million

Lady Sarah Chatto (18- daughter of Queen’s sister, Margaret): $18 million

Prince Harry (3): $16 million

Viscount Linley (15- son of Princess Margaret): $15 million

Princess Beatrice (5- Prince Andrew’s daughter): $2 million

Princess Eugenie (6- Prince Andrew’s daughter): $2 million

Some noteworthy  items from the list:

- If either Beatrice or Eugenie fluked their way into the top job, they'd be in for a hefty pay raise.

- We don't hear much from Prince Richard, but he is on the payroll to represent her. His father, Henry, was the third son of George V and brother to Elizabeth's father.

- Princess Eugenie is the youngest on the list at age 22.

- The Queen receives about $40 million a year, which is less than half what she was getting 20 years ago when economic times were good. Most of her wealth comes from her private homes such as Balmoral Castle in Scotland, stud farms, a fruit farm, her art and jewelry collection, as well as one of the world’s largest stamp collections built by her grandfather George V. Anything in the Royal Collection such as crown jewels belong to the state.

- Charles' income includes about $28 million a year that he receives from the Duchy of Cornwall estate.

 

Comments

[Megs]

Is William not 2nd in line, and Harry 3rd?

[Wordsmith]

I could be mistaken ........but isn't Prince William 2nd in line to the throne, Prince Harry 3rd, etc ............perhaps I'm missing something here ..............

[Suzanne]

Wouldn't Prince William be 2nd in line after Prince Charles ?

[Keith Williams]

If Prince Charles is 1st in line, Prince William is 3rd and Price Harry is 4th, who's 2nd in line for the throne?

[Ann Garniss]

You missed #2 in the succession numbers - Will's listed as third instead of second, and both Harry and Andrew are listed as fourth.

[Karen]

The article claims that William is 3rd in line to the throne and Charles 1st. Is there a mystery heir in there?

[warren peterson]

Prince William is second in line to the throne after his father Charles, not 3rd. Harry is 3rd

[Hadenough]

They are not the richest on the list however they haven't worked a day in their lives to be pretty damn rich anyway. Talk about out of control welfare

[anon]

Sorry its just embarrassing to have a queen/king who is our nominal ruler. Even if the current Queen is a nice lady.

[Peter]

@Hadenough,
I guess you have no clue what you are talking about. Try attending close to 400 official engagements a year, then you will have some idea what hard work means. BTW, is this list includes the real estate the royal family owns? The Balmoral estate with it 49,000 acre of land must worth a few bucks...