He’s living like a king, literally.
King Charles III has surpassed his late mother, Queen Elizabeth, in personal wealth.
According to the 2024 Sunday Times Rich List, the monarch’s personal wealth is $770 million.
On the other hand, according to the 2022 Sunday Times Rich List, Queen Elizabeth’s personal wealth was a considerably lower $468 million, before she died at age 96 in September of that year.
Surprisingly, this doesn’t mean that King Charles is the richest man in the UK.
Charles pales in comparison to Hugh Grosvenor, 33, the Duke of Westminster. Per the outlet, Grosvenor’s family’s net worth stands at $12.8 billion.
Ironically, Grosvenor is the godfather of Prince George, 10 – Prince William and Kate Middleton’s oldest child, and Charles’s grandson. He’s also reportedly the godfather of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s son, Prince Archie, 5, although the Sussexes have never publicly revealed Archie’s godparents.
“Hugh is one of very few close friends of William and Harry’s who has maintained strong bonds and a line of communication with both,” an unidentified friend of the estranged princes told The Times in 2023.
If Grosvenor is really Archie’s godfather, then it’s ironic that he surpasses Charles in wealth, considering all of the strife between Prince Harry and his family.
The outlet lists the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk and Balmoral Castle in Scotland – where Charles sometimes randomly runs into tourists – as the monarch’s most valuable assets.
The farmland around Sandringham is estimated to be worth over $360 million.
A former aide to King Charles told the outlet that Charles rebuilt his wealth following his $21 million 1996 divorce from Princess Diana by saving profits he received from the Duchy of Cornwall.
“He became prudent at tucking away some money from the Duchy after that wipeout [of capital],” the former aide said.
“We’re not talking vast sums here — several tens of millions, no more. There have been suggestions that Camilla brought a good deal of money into their relationship, but that’s really not correct.”
The Duchy of Cornwall that the aide referred to is a $1 billion estate that includes land, farms, houses, and it rents commercial properties in London, Milton Keynes and Cornwall.
Charles reportedly increased the duchy’s annual profits by 42.6% to over $31 million between 2011 and 2022. In the 10-year period between 2012 and 2022, he reportedly received over $268 from the duchy.
After Queen Elizabeth’s death in 2022, Prince William inherited the estate from Charles.
However, the true wealth of the British royal family is hard to truly tally, because of the value of their art collection, personal jewelry, gifts and taxpayer funds.
