The Prince of Monaco journeyed to the North Pole from Russia via dogsled to prove the
effects of global warming.
The King of Morocco has flown his car across countries and portions of the North Atlantic
just for a tune-up.
The royalty of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates are currently at odds
and have been known to call each other rabid dogs in the heat of debate.
Yet, despite their differences, all have at least three things in common: a title, power,
and money.
Let’s see just how rich they are in this episode of The Infographics Show, The World’s
Richest Monarchs Right Now.
Number 10 is Prince Albert of Monaco, the third richest royal in Europe, with a net
value of $1 billion.
Prince Albert is a descendant from traditional as well as Hollywood royalty.
His father was Prince Rainier III of the Grimaldi bloodline while his mother was Princess Grace,
otherwise known as famous actress Grace Kelly.
One of the assets that Prince Albert owns is Grace’s childhood home in Philadelphia,
which he purchased for $755,000 in October of 2016 with plans to open it up as a seasonal
museum.
But his mother wasn’t the only one to leave to leave behind valuable and cherished mementos.
Prince Albert also inherited a priceless stamp collection that was begun by his great-great
grandfather.
It includes some Sardinian stamps from as far back as 1851 that are believed to be some
of the first ever used in Monaco.
Then there is the impressive car collection that his father built up over decades to which
Prince Albert continues to add.
It is now around 120 vehicles strong.
This stockpile is so large that it could no longer fit in the garage and was moved to
Terrasses de Fontvieille, where it is still currently on display.
Among the cars is a London taxi that Prince Albert’s family used for most of their travel
as well as the Lexus from his 2011 royal wedding to a blonde bombshell South African swimmer.
It also includes models from Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, and more.
The prince owns a fourth of the land under his control as well, and has plans in the
works to expand Monaco’s territory further by extending it out to sea.
This is critical as Monaco has the largest population density of any country in the world.
In fact, thirty five of every 100 residents are mulit-millionaires vying over space to
call the tax-free principality their home.
Due to this competition, the cost of property in the area is surpassed by Hong Kong alone.
To accommodate the expected influx of an additional 27,000 of the filthy rich by 2027, the plan
is to expand around 645,000 more square feet (60,000 square meters).
This will make space for 120 luxury homes and bring yet more prosperity to the region.
Beyond pricey real estate, stamps, automobiles, and land, Prince Albert also profits off shares
he holds in a Monte Carlo resort as well.
In other words, he, his wife, and their three children have got it made.
Number 9 is Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar who is worth a reputed $1.2
billion.
Most of this wealth is due to the Qatar Investment Authority, the fourth largest middle eastern
sovereign fund, with $320 billion in assets.
QIA makes investments around the world with money it gets in exchange for Qatar’s oil
and gas, and has made substantial profits.
Its investments include shares in the Deutsche Bank, London Stock Exchange, and Volkswagen
in Europe and the Gigamon Incorporated software company in the United States.
It plans to expand the US portion of its’ portfolio to reach a total value of $45 billion
within the next two years.
However, the area wasn’t always well-off and the Qatar Investment Authority didn’t
exist until 2005.
In fact, the Qatari people struggled just to get by until part of the world’s largest
gas field was discovered within their borders.
Emir Hamad’s father joined forces with Exxon executive Rex W. Tillerson, a recent US Secretary
of State, to liquify the gas and make it exportable.
The area then went from a poor one to one with the highest average income as a result.
However, the emir believes that this profit has made others in the area feel threatened.
Qatar is currently riding out a boycott by its Saudi and Emirati neighbors and each continually
tries to one-up the other in a display of power and prestige.
For example, while Qatar purchased a Cezanne painting for $250 million, a record for art
at the time, Saudi Arabia purchased a Leonardo da Vinci painting for a new record of $450.3
million.
Emir Hamad of Qatar’s assets have set him apart in other ways as well.
He bought the Paris Saint-Germain soccer team which placed as the eleventh most valuable
according to Forbes.
In fact, it set a record by paying a $242 million transfer fee for player Neymar Jr.
The Emir is also reputed to own a 408 foot (124 meter) yacht known as the Katara, translated
to mean celebration.
Built in Bremen, Germany, the massive vessel is the 14th largest private luxury yacht world-wide
and estimated to be worth $300,000,000.
Number 8 is Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, the second richest royal in Europe and one
of its youngest, with a net worth of $4 billion.
His value is mainly the result of the funds from the Grand Duke’s House that are his
alone as holder of the crown.
He does not earn a salary but gets $324,851 to spend on royal functions and an additional
budget of $12,181,914 for household expenses.
Because the country of Luxembourg is so small with few inhabitants compared to most other
nations, the cost in taxes each citizen paid to support the royal family was a little over
$19 in 2014.
In comparison, the cost of the British royal family was 70 cents a person and the Spanish
required 18 cents.
Then there is Belgium where royalty no longer accepts any form of assistance.
Though some believe financial burden is a contributing factor to why monarchies of the
past have dissolved, the Grand Duke and Duchess seem beloved by their people nonetheless.
Crowds showed up to cheer at his swearing in ceremony in October of 2000 after his father,
Grand Duke Jean, stepped down.
Number 7 is Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is both prime minister and vice president
of the United Arab Emirates as well as emir sheikh of Dubai.
He is worth $4.5 billion.
A large amount of his income is generated through his sovereign wealth fund, the Abu
Dhabi Investment Authority, ranked as the third biggest in the world and worth $828
billion as of 2018.
A majority of this is due to Abu Dhabi oil, and most of its other holdings remain undisclosed
to the public.
The emir also profits off of a majority of shares in investment firm Dubai Holding, the
owner of a major property development and management company and a luxury hotel company,
and worth $35 billion.
In the past decades, Dubai was renowned for its riches.
Once largely due to oil, this eventually shifted.
More recently, this wealth, or around $100 billion in revenue, was a combination of real
estate, ports, and airlines, while surprisingly a mere seven percent was from oil.
In fact, it was real estate developments that led to soaring economic growth and the construction
of Burj Khalifa, which at 160 stories high is the world’s tallest building and Burj
Al-Arab, the most expensive hotel in the world.
However, this upturn was soon followed by a downturn.
The construction of man-made islands off the Persian Gulf and other massive enterprises
did not meet with as much success as planned.
Dubai found itself out $80 million and had to turn to Abu Dhabi for a bailout.
It was not the only area to struggle.
As real estate and the stock market plummeted, the richest around the world lost $22 billion
from 2018 to 2019, though Dubai lost the most of all.
Its savior, the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi also lost billions as oil prices fell.
However, despite some not so successful projects the emir of Dubai has been quite generous
with his money with positive effects on many.
He contributed $10 billion dollars towards the establishment of the Mohammed bin Rashid
Al Maktoum Foundation, one of the largest five foundations in the world, for example.
This organization seeks to promote job and business opportunity, knowledge and education,
and culture.
Number 6 is Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein, the richest royal in Europe, with a net worth
of $5 billion.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he is one of the 500 richest people in the
world, ranked at number 444 to be exact.
His fortune is one that dates back to the time of the Crusades from land held throughout
Europe.
This wealth is now tied to the Princely House of Liechtenstein’s private bank, the LGT
Group.
LGT acquired additional assets that led to a recent spike in value in 2017.
This provided von Liechtenstein an extra $1.7 billion and lifted him up to his current billionaires
index ranking.
On top of this there are profits he has made from investments through the Prince of Liechtenstein
Foundation, a holding company, as well.
He also happens to own the second-best private art collection in the world, according to
Forbes.
While the 1,600 paintings and other forms of art were hidden away from the Nazis in
1938, they are available once again for public view.
And they are not displayed in an ordinary gallery, but rather a garden Viennese palace
owned by the prince and that was altered for the exhibition at a cost of $27 million.
He also owns a city Viennese palace as well.
The allowance the Prince of Liechtenstein receives of $270,709, similarly to Grand Duke
Henri of Luxembourg, seems rather unnecessary.
It is likely as small as it is due to the royal houses’ wealth.
Number 5 is King Mohammed VI of Morocco, with a net worth of $5.7 billion.
He made most of this wealth through the Societe Nationale d’Investissement holding company
after his father left him 35% of the business.
Among other things, it has shares in Morocco’s biggest bank and in the mining, sugar, and
dairy industries.
He has other holding companies that control additional businesses and industries as well.
In other words, he owns most of the Moroccan economy.
Because he also controls half of the phosphate in the world, his value is virtually immune
to changes in the market that impact most other things such as the value of oil or gas.
Yet, despite his wealth, he is still given more than $34 million each year to spend as
he chooses.
Unfortunately, his choices have been questionable.
When his expenditures were first discovered and then published by French authors in March
of 2012, his subjects were justifiably enraged.
While millions of his people struggled to make ends meet on a dollar or so a day, the
French book claimed that the Moroccan king was spending $1.3 million annually on pet
food and $2.6 million more on clothing.
He also had a habit of keeping 12 palaces ready on the off-chance he would use them,
yet he never showed up at more than four.
Supposedly the King even flew his luxury car to Britain for routine servicing and spent
$46,000 on a coat.
Unsurprisingly, the book resulted in scandal, though the king was not the only one whose
reputation suffered.
Its authors were arrested for supposedly attempting to earn $2.3 million in exchange for not printing
it.
And somehow, despite it all, years later King Mohammed remains king.
Number 4 is Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates and emir of Abu
Dhabi with a net worth of $15 billion.
Much of his wealth is due to his connection with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, responsible
for managing oil reserves from the United Arab Emirates.
It is believed that the investment firm has a greater worth than the total assets of Saudi
Arabia and Qatar put together, or somewhere over $525 billion.
It is surpassed in value only by a government fund in Norway with a worth around $757 billion
and the Chinese Investment Corporation valued at approximately $574 billion.
Its preferred areas of investment include London’s land, real estate, and resources.
It now owns the old Scotland Yard building that it purchased for over $486 million as
well as just shy of ten percent of London’s Thames Water supply.
Number 3 is King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Soud of Saudi Arabia with a net worth of $17 billion.
He has earned this fortune through his family’s ownership of a media group that includes Asharq
Al-Awsat and Al Eqtisadiah.
The first of these is a newspaper that provides news on both the national and foreign affairs.
The latter is a newspaper with a focus on economics and business.
The King spends his money without reserve on several luxurious items.
One of these is a yacht as long as a football field with a banquet room and onboard space
to accommodate as many as 30.
He has also taken a $30 million vacation to the Maldives and used three entire resorts
for himself and those accompanying him, including his 100 bodyguards.
Even his Kleenex dispenser is covered in gold as well as the chairs he sits on, and the
king had a golden escalator designed for his use when exiting his private plane.
However, to the ridicule of many, he had to awkwardly walk down the gilded steps when
the contraption malfunctioned on landing in Russia for a meeting with Vladimir Putin.
Number 2 is Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei who is worth $20 billion thanks to oil and
gas.
It was Brunei that came up with the first large scale natural gas liquifying plant once
a gas field was found offshore of his country.
This set a precedent for others world-wide who had gas but no way to ship it, such as
Qatar.
Brunei has many sources of oil as well, but the oil field known as Champion is its greatest.
Champion can fill up to 100,000 barrels daily.
With natural resources of that amount it comes as no surprise that the Sultan is living a
lavish lifestyle.
His home, known as The Istana Nurul Iman, is the largest residential palace in the world.
It takes up around 2,152,782 square feet surrounded by white walls and topped with golden domes.
It has 1,788 rooms, 5 pools, and a 110-car parking garage and uses 38 kinds of marbles
for its 18 elevators and 44 staircases.
And that’s not all.
His garage is anything but empty.
The sultan parks his 65 customized Ferraris, Bentleys, and Lamborghinis, his 165 Rolls
Royces, and his 37 Bugattis there.
After all, why stop at The King of Morocco’s 120 cars when you can have 267.
Number 1 is King Maha Vajiralongkorn of Thailand worth $30 billion due to investments made
by the Crown Property Bureau.
The Bureau owns more than 3,000 acres of property in Bangkok and stakes in Siam Commercial Bank
and in Siam Cement.
King Vajiralongkorn is also owner of the largest cut and shaped diamond in the world, the Golden
Jubilee Diamond.
It came from the Premier Mine, the same origin as the other large and famous Cullinan and
Taylor-Burton diamonds.
Though, unlike the others, at first it was considered quite ugly.
It took two years and specialized equipment to cut it and give it the attractive yellow
brown sparkle it has today.
It has since received blessings from Pope John Paul II, the Supreme Imam, and the Supreme
Buddhist Patriarch of Thailand and was first given to King Vajiralongkorn’s father in
honor of his 50th coronation anniversary.
Though his people were told that it was a golden topaz at first, and not a diamond.
In a time of financial hardship, it was prudent that they didn’t realize their leader was
parading around what is believed to be an up to $12 million-dollar stone on his royal
scepter.
However, in time they learned the truth and it now sits on display, instead of attached
to a kingly accessory.
Clearly, these men are all quite different from one another, yet all are famous, powerful,
and filthy rich.
In a world where many monarchies have toppled they, for one reason or another, have retained
their positions of leadership.
This is despite questionable spending by many at the taxpayers expense.
Of these top ten monarchs, who, if any, deserve to be ousted from power?
Let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video called When Royal Inbreeding Went Wrong!
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See you next time!