| Online: | |
| Visits: | |
| Stories: |
Top 10 Richest Monarchs 2014
The wealth of monarchs is largely inherited from preceding generations, though some have endeavored to enlarge their net worth by becoming business people and making shrewd investments. The holdings of most of world’s the hereditary rulers was not immune from the financial downturn of 2008, but most have since recovered and rank among the richest people on earth. Below is a list of the 10 richest members of royalty in the world.
10. Queen Elizabeth II:
Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of England and its Commonwealth realms and is worth an estimated $450 million. Her reign of 62 years is one of the longest in history, only exceeded by that of her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria, who reigned for 63 years. Elizabeth was not born to be queen but, rather, was born to the brother of the Prince of Wales and was only third in line to the throne at her birth. When her uncle abdicated to marry an American divorcee, Elizabeth’s father George became king and she became next in line to become monarch.
9. Albert II, Prince of Monaco:
Albert II, Prince of Monaco, is worth $1 billion. Famed as the son of American actress Grace Kelly and as an international playboy, the prince’s holdings include real estate all over Europe and ownership of Monaco’s famed Casino in the capital of Monte Carlo. Since coming to power, the prince has focused a great deal of his energy on environmental concerns and is active in promoting green energy in Europe. Prior to his marriage in 2011 to South African swimmer Charlene Wittstock, the prince reportedly fathered at least 5 illegitimate children, only 1 of which he has acknowledged as his.
8.Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani:
Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani is the former Emir of the Arab nation of Qatar and is worth $2.4 billion, earned from various enterprises and inheritances. Al Thani seized power in a coup in 1995 and immediately set out a program to increase his country’s natural gas production. The program has been overwhelmingly successful and Qatar is now the richest country in the world. Politically, the Emir has shown a tendency to play both sides of the fence, maintaining close ties with Hamas and Iran while allowing the United States to build 2 military bases in the country. The former Emir’s interests and philanthropy are wide-ranging, from founding the news network Al-Jazeera to building Qatar’s first art museum, designed by world-renowned architect I.M. Pei.
7. Mohammed VI:
Mohammed VI is the King of Morocco and is worth $2.5 billion. Trained as a lawyer and holding a PhD from a French university, Mohammed is seen as an intellectual and a reformer who has loosened the strict control that was enjoyed by his father. Prior to his ascension to the throne in 1999, Morocco had an abysmal human rights record and the new King has taken steps to change this, including creating a committee to study past human rights abuses in Morocco and bring perpetrators to justice. In August, 2013, conservative opposition to the king’s reforms came to a head when a riot broke out in the capital city of Rabat over his pardon of several Spanish men accused of rape. The king was forced to rescind the pardons.
6. Hans Adam II:
Hans Adam II, worth $3.5 billion, is the Prince of Lichtenstein, a tiny country in central Europe. In 2003, the prince proposed a referendum on a broad set of laws that would give him greater power and threatened to move to neighboring Austria if it was not passed. It did pass, but in 2012 the people of Lichtenstein voted to curtail his powers again. The prince is related, at least distantly, to almost all of the royal families of Europe and owns the LGT banking group as well as a vast art collection, which he displays publicly in the Lichtenstein Museum in Vienna, Austria.
