The World’s Richest Royals according to Forbes
Forbes has issued a list that featured the richest Royals in the world, below is the ranking along with the net fortune, you can also see the photo of each one sorted from left to right, up to down.
1: King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand - Net worth: $35 billion
2: Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan of United Arab Emirates - Net worth: $23 billion
3: King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia - Net worth: $21 billion
4: Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei - Net worth: $20 billion
5: Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai - Net worth: $18 billion
6: Prince Hans-Adam II von und zu Liechtenstein of Liechtenstein - Net worth: $5 billion
7: Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani of Qatar - Net worth: $2 billion
8: King Mohammed VI of Morocco - Net worth: $1.5 billion
9: Prince Albert II of Monaco - Net worth: $1.4 billion
10: Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman - Net worth: $1.1 billion
11: Prince Karim Al Hussein - Net worth: $1 billion
12: Queen Elizabeth II of U.K. - Net worth: $650 million
13: Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait - Net worth: $500 million
14: Queen Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard of Netherlands - Net worth: $300 million
15: King Mswati III of Swaziland - Net worth: $200 million
This entry was posted on Friday, August 22nd, 2008 at 9:22 pm and is filed under Arabia, Interesting, Kuwait, Lists, Media, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
on August 24, 2008 at 7:22 pm Krit wrote:
Please see more detailed Article by Forbes (The Crowning Fortune) on Thai King’s wealth here:
http://www.forbes.com/magazines/global/2008/0901/032.html
The $35 billion is misleading, since, as stated clearly in the new Forbes Article, the Bangkok real estate holdings are worth $31 billion.
Research for 2005, shows the total income of Crown Property Bureau (CPB) at $280 million (adjusted for current exchange rate). In that total, $200 million was from company dividends, and only $80 million from the real estate. This is consistent with the recent Bangkokpost citation that most of CPB’s land is leased at low-priced, below market rate to state agencies, NGOs, and low-income tenants. It was also stated that only 7% of the land is leased at commercial rates. Paul Handley makes the same comment in the new Forbes Article that the CPB is not charging market rates, and that “raising them would cause serious repercussions, especially for its thousands of low-income tenants.”
How much of the annual income generated by the CPB goes to charity is unknown, but I am sure a good share of it does go to charity.
So, don’t treat the $35 billion figure as if it was the King’s disposable income. It is not. The greater bulk, ie. $31 billion, is real estate leased cheaply to state agencies and low-income people, and most of the rest is in share holdings which are invested in the long-term (good for economic stability).
The new Forbes Article makes the point that the CPB’s goal is: “to aid the country’s development by investing in key industries and providing below-market-rate housing for low-income citizens.”
So I think the King is using his assets wisely and for benefit of Thailand