Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday became the longest-reigning monarch in British history, and while her country might have lost influence in the world, she has ruled over an unprecedented period of wealth creation.
Besides the unwinding of an empire and the economic booms and busts, her time as head of state has been marked by the rise of the super-rich. The emergence of billionaire financiers, entrepreneurs and oil-rich sheikhs has left the woman who inherited one of the richest thrones in the world in 1952 a relative pauper a little over six decades later, albeit one with palaces, stables and an expensive stamp collection.
The 89-year-old’s estimated personal fortune, largely inherited from her family, is about US$425 million, according to an analysis by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That is a mere 3 percent of the wealth of the richest Briton, the Duke of Westminster Gerald Grosvenor. Europe’s richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt, has a US$32 billion fortune.
Illustration: Lance Liu
“The queen is a steward of the monarchy,” said Sally Bedell Smith, author of Elizabeth the Queen, a 2012 biography. “She’s not as rich as everyone thinks she is.”
The monarchy is still one of the UK’s most valuable institutions, with a value of ￡57 billion (US$87.9 billion) to the UK, according to a report by brand valuation and strategy consultancy Brand Finance. The figure includes contribution to the economy through tourism and such things as the effect of royal babies on fashion brands.
However, its ￡20 billion of tangible assets, including Buckingham Palace, the Crown Jewels and the Royal Art Collection, are held in trust for future generations and are not the queen’s private property.
While precise details of her personal fortune are as closely guarded as the Crown Jewels, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index calculates she holds US$75 million of investments, US$160 million of assets inherited from her mother, personal property of US$110 million, a US$75 million stamp collection and the US$10 million rated Royal Stud. The palace declined to comment on the queen’s net worth.
The value of her investment holdings is derived from a statement in the Times of London in 1971 by John Colville, a director at Coutts & Co, the queen’s bank, which estimated her fortune at ￡2 million. Its appreciated value is calculated from an investment allocation of stocks, bonds, commodities and cash that is averaged about 5 percent a year over the past 25 years. That is in line with returns typically targeted by similarly wealthy investors.
“In my experience, a conservative family portfolio would look to achieve a 5 percent to 7.5 percent annual return over this time period,” said Richard Wilson, chief executive officer of the Miami Family Office, a single family office with US$500 million in assets.
The queen inherited her mother’s ￡70 million estate in 2002, according to a report by BBC News at the time. The reported value has been adjusted by the UK’s rate of inflation to account for any increase in the value of the assets.
She also owns the Balmoral and Sandringham estates, which are valued based on discussions with London-based Charles McDowell, founder of prime real-estate broker Charles McDowell.
The stamp collection of her father, George VI, is valued based on the sale of John du Pont’s stamp collection in June last year and discussions with London-based Stanley Gibbons Investments managing director Keith Heddle.
Her stable, which has about 25 horses in training each season, according to The British Monarchy Web site, is valued based on sales data from horse auctioneer Tattersalls and discussions with thoroughbred analyst Nancy Sexton. The stud’s stake in the stallion standing at Sandringham is valued based on guidance from bloodstock analyst Bill Oppenheim.
Her majesty could be worth more. Other assets, including a flock of racing pigeons, jewelry and a lifetime of gifts from visitors and admirers could add to her fortune. Moreover, the royal provenance of her estate could push its market value much higher. Even so, the queen’s reign has seen her steadily slip down the rankings of the UK’s richest people.
As of Wednesday, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary has been queen for 63 years and 216 days. She overtakes her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, who cemented Britain’s position as a superpower with an empire spanning almost a quarter of the world’s land area.
That status diminished after the two world wars before the UK’s economy went through a transformation from state-owned industry to the free-market capitalism of the 1980s and 1990s.
What followed was an historic era for wealth generation, with self-made billionaires building fortunes of more than US$3 trillion since 1995, according to a May report by UBS Group AG and PwC. That has seen the queen leapfrogged by UK billionaires such as Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and retailer Philip Green.
Property prices also skyrocketed, especially in London and the southeast of England as salaries and bonuses in the City financial district took off. The number of millionaires in the UK, at least on paper, has jumped 41 percent to 715,000 in the past five years alone, according to a report by Barclays PLC.
The Crown Estate, which owns London property, the UK seabed as well as forests, wind farms and the Windsor Estate, reported net assets of more than ￡11 billion in its latest annual report. Bloomberg did not include the queen’s 15 percent share of profits from the estate in her fortune because the money is used to cover palace upkeep, payroll and other costs of the royal family.
At least the queen is able to enjoy — if not own — the royal palaces, land and the art collection, landmark assets that would be the envy of any billionaire. Buckingham Palace with its 775 rooms and 16.18-hectare garden could be worth about ￡2 billion were it ever sold, said Ollie Hooper, founder of luxury residential broker Huntly Hooper.
“Priceless is perhaps more accurate,” he said.
“Given the nature of the asset,” he said.
The White House’s decision to take a 9.9 percent stake in Intel Corp is looking like very shrewd business indeed. Since the government bought in at US$20.47 a share last August, the US chipmaker’s surging stock price has delivered the US a US$43 billion return. One of the reasons the investment has so far proved so sound is that the White House has made sure of it. According to The Wall Street Journal, Howard personally pushed deals on Intel’s behalf with some of the most lucrative clients imaginable. They include Nvidia Corp, the company at the heart of the AI
In a Taiwanese university classroom, a lecturer asks in English: “Can anyone give me an example from Taiwan?” Students look down. No one answers. After class, one student writes on the course platform in Mandarin: “I understood the concept, but I didn’t know how to answer in English.” That moment highlights a key issue in Taiwan’s English-medium instruction (EMI) reform: It is not just about more English-taught courses, but whether students can learn, participate and belong. EMI expansion is part of the Bilingual 2030 policy and the Ministry of Education’s BEST Program, aiming to improve English ability, support EMI teaching
A single photograph can cut through a lot of noise, but it can also be used to misrepresent the truth. At the very least, it can concentrate the mind on something that requires further investigation. On Monday last week, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation CEO Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) and former National Security Council secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) held a news conference in which they showed a photograph of former foundation CEO Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑), now Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) deputy chairman. In the image Hsiao is seated next to Xiamen Taiwan Businessmen Association chairman Han Ying-huan (韓螢煥). The two men were holding
The Ministry of the Interior, working with the navy and coast guard, is organizing Taiwan’s first joint exercise simulating escort tankers carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) and oil through a Chinese blockade. The drills simulate fuel transport along three maritime corridors leading toward Japan, the Philippines and the US. Deputy Minister of the Interior Sawyer Mars (馬士元) said that a blockade of the Taiwan Strait would amount to “almost a 100 percent blockade of the regional energy supply.” Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo said planning to counter a blockade is standard practice in Taipei. While the exercise is limited in
RSS