The King’s personal fortune has shot up by £30m to put him on par with Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty, while the overall number of billionaires in the UK has plummeted, according to The Sunday Times Rich List.
The 2025 list, published on Friday, shows the King’s personal wealth grew from £610m to £640m, taking him up 20 places to 258 – level with former prime minister Mr Sunak and his wife.
The number of overall UK billionaires has fallen to 156 from 165 in 2024, marking the biggest drop since the rich list began 37 years ago.
Gopi Hinduja and his family, behind the Indian conglomerate Hinduja Group, topped the list for the fourth year running with £35.3bn.
Meanwhile, founder and chairman of global chemicals company Ineos Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who became part owner of Manchester United last year, dropped from fourth place to seventh after his reported wealth went from £23.5bn to £17.05bn.
Sir Jim’s £6.47bn losses marked the biggest on the list, while Russian-born brothers Igor and Dmitry Bukhman, who built a fortune on mobile games such as Gardenscapes and Fishdom, made the biggest gains with nearly £6.2bn.
New entries included makeup mogul Charlotte Tilbury with £350m and Ellen DeGeneres, who left the US for the Cotswolds last year.
The Sunday Times said the list was one of its toughest to compile due to Donald Trump’s tariffs and the subsequent stock market turbulence, adding many from previous years had dropped off the list and others were no longer eligible having fled Britain after Labour’s non-dom crackdown.
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Overall, the combined wealth of those on the list stood at £772.8bn – down 3% from the last list.
Speaking to Anna Jones on Sky News Breakfast, Rich List compiler Rob Watts highlighted the story of Tom and Phil Beahon, who own sportswear clothing brand Castore which is now worth £1bn, as one of his favourites.
The brothers from Wirral have debuted at joint 345 on the list with an estimated wealth of £350m.
Calling their story “inspiring”, Mr Watts said: “They dreamed of being sportsmen as lads – one of them got onto the books of Tranmere Rovers and the other played cricket for Lancashire, but their sporting careers were over in their early 20s.
“And they say that failure was critical to driving them to create this £1bn sports kit business that you’ll now see being worn by the England cricket team and the England rugby team.”
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The top 20:
1. Gopi Hinduja and family – £35.3bn
2. David and Simon Reuben and family – £26.87bn
3. Sir Leonard Blavatnik – £25.73bn
4. Sir James Dyson and family – £20.8bn
5. Idan Ofer – £20.12bn
6. Guy, George, Alannah and Galen Weston and family – £17.75bn
7. Sir Jim Ratcliffe – £17.05bn
8. Lakshmi Mittal and family – £15.44bn
9. John Fredriksen and family – £13.68bn
10. Igor and Dmitry Bukhman – £12.54bn
11. Kirsten and Jorn Rausing – £12.51bn
12. Michael Platt – £12.5bn
13. Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken and Michel de Carvalho – £10.09bn
14. Duke of Westminster and the Grosvenor family – £9.88bn
15. Lord Bamford and family – £9.45bn
16. Denise, John and Peter Coates – £9.44bn
17. Carrie and Francois Perrodo and family – £9.3bn
18. Barnaby and Merlin Swire and family – £9.25bn
19. Marit, Lisbet, Sigrid and Hans Rausing – £9.09bn
20. Alex Gerko – £8.75bn
