Queen Elizabeth II becomes the longest-reigning monarch in British history today, 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 $425 million, according to an analysis by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That’s a mere 3 percent of the wealth of the richest Briton, Gerald Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster. Europe’s richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt, has a $32 billion fortune.
“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.”
Doing the Math
The monarchy is still one of Britain’s most valuable institutions, with a value of 57 billion pounds ($87 billion) to the U.K., 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 pounds of tangible assets, including Buckingham Palace, the Crown Jewels and the Royal Art Collection, are held in trust for future generations and aren’t 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 $75 million of investments, $160 million of assets inherited from her mother, personal property of $110 million, a $75 million stamp collection and the $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 by John Colville in the Times of London in 1971, a director at Coutts & Co, the Queen’s bank, which estimated her fortune at 2 million pounds. Its appreciated value is calculated from an investment allocation of stocks, bonds, commodities and cash that’s averaged about 5 percent a year over the last 25 years. That’s in line with returns typically targeted by similarly wealthy investors.
"In my experience, a conservative family portfolio would look to achieve a 5 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 $500 million in assets.
The Queen inherited her mother’s 70 million-pound estate in 2002, according to a report by BBC News at the time. The reported value has been adjusted by the U.K.’s rate of inflation to account for any increase in the value of the assets.
Source :Bloomberg business
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